


Chris's Mission Impossible: The Breach

by JewellTrim



Series: Chris's Mission Impossible [4]
Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Kid Fic, Mission Impossible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-05-11 13:08:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5627710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JewellTrim/pseuds/JewellTrim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the boys are settling in their new life, the past comes to haunt Chris. However he will have to put the past behind him and create allies to keep his new life from crashing down all around him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It had been a full month since they had first joined the 4C organization. The uniforms and the code of conduct was a bit unnerving to those who weren’t used to it, and it showed in their appearance and behavior. Chris, from the very beginning, would wear his black leather jacket over his uniform. Vin wouldn’t wear the full outfit, opting to wear his hoodie instead. Ezra would switch it up from time to time and alternate wearing a cravat or a tie. The others in their group rebelled too but in their own special way.  
JD insisted on wearing a hat. The hat itself wasn’t bad, but the way the boy wore it didn’t flatter him. Buck took to abusing the hat to get JD to toss it, but the young boy was stubborn. Ezra would hold secret poker games and would gamble during breaks. Josiah and Nathan didn’t rebel with their clothing, but would take to stealing and hoarding books in their rooms and were constantly in trouble for missing clean room checks and roll call at night.   
Other groups in the program took to calling them the black sheep group, or the name used most often, the infamous magnificent seven.  
The name didn’t bother the boys. Instead they would embrace it.  
They were known for breaking plenty of rules and the organization’s code of conduct, but in training, they were the best. When they first arrived, they were running on adrenaline. During drills, Chris pushed himself to become the very best. His friends were quick to follow and soon they were the top in their fields.  
Chris and Buck took to becoming stronger, mastering in judo, karate and wrestling. They learned how to shoot properly and became great marksmen. Buck didn’t care to master in marksmanship and concentrated more on hand to hand combat. Chris on the other hand became an ace shooter and a quick draw.  
Vin also took up marksmanship. He wasn’t so keen on close range after the warehouse incident, and preferred long range. It took him a while, but he soon became an excellent sniper. He also worked on his tracking skills which almost came natural to him.  
Nathan preferred books and medicine. He learned skills in first aid and then first response. If necessary, he could patch up a teammate and even sew up a wound. The organization didn’t want him to only study so he learned how to fight with knives. He knew in a gun fight it would be difficult to defend himself, but that only drove him to get better.  
Josiah didn’t want to get too involved with fighting, but did take marksman lessons. The organization was surprised he didn’t use his strength, but didn’t push him. Josiah worked on profiling which he would study at night while Nathan read medical books. An interesting turn of events happened when Josiah’s sister Hannah, decided she didn’t want to be away from him and asked if she could also join the organization. At first Travis was a little skeptical, but Josiah pointed out that she could draw. Hannah took sketching classes and figure studies till she was able to draw from description. Chris was happy to bring her in as their group’s sketch artist.  
JD didn’t at fist know what he wanted to work in and was at first trying to follow Chris. After failing in karate, JD tried marksmanship. He was good, but not as good as Chris. After taking up lessons with Ezra, JD was able to master the computer and became an excellent hacker. So much so that it made the organization relieved that they found him before he went on the illegal track.  
Ezra at first wasn’t going to participate with the others. After all he was just playing around while he waited for his mother. He heard a few weeks back that Maude had to leave the country for things to cool down after her latest con with a man in political office. JD had asked him about how to use a computer and he taught him a few of the tricks he knew. A week after debating what he should do, Ezra decided to do marksmanship, computer skills and undercover. He figured if he worked undercover, then he would still be working on his con skills so mother would be proud of him when she returned.

 

The boys sat in a little classroom that they became accustomed to hang out in. It was dull compared to the Playground. Hannah would join them on occasion, but the little girl began to make friends with other girls in the organization and would only visit from time to time. To entertain themselves, the boys would pushed the desks together and play a couple rounds with Ezra’s cards.   
It was during one of these games that another group walked in on them. Everyone glanced up at the intruders except Chris who was slumped in his desk, staring at his cards.  
“Lord, you have no shame. Playing poker in a classroom!” rebuked Stephen Travis.  
Stephen, the boys had learned, was the son of Mr Travis the director of the 4C program in the region. He was a bit too nosy for the boys liking. With him was his group, which was made of three girls.  
Buck had said earlier when they first arrived how annoying it was that Stephen was in a group of all girls. He’d tried to make advances to the two older girls, but Inez only ignored him and Mary friend zoned him. This made Buck even more irritated at Stephen.  
“The Lord don’t like you, go away.” muttered Josiah. JD snickered and Vin smiled.  
“You know I can have you all put on probation if I wanted to.” said the young Travis.  
“Does it look like we’re making an effort to stop you, Stephen?” Ezra said, gesturing to himself and his friends.  
“What do you want?” Chris finally asked, looking up for the first time. Chris didn’t like the boy as much as the others, but he had formulated a kind of mutual understanding with the boy’s father. If he could, he would hold off from punching the kid in the face every time his words were pointed to any of Chris’s friends.  
Stephen turned his gazed on Chris, straightening his back. He didn’t like this boy. He didn’t fear anybody, not even his dad. He was strong and wild which spelled trouble. Often he’d question his dad’s choice on letting the boys join the program. They were a bunch of misfits albeit skilled.  
Chris’s cold steel eyes glared at Stephen, making the other boy stumble around for his words.  
“The director wants you and the others in the debriefing room.” Stephen was finally able to spit out. He silently cursed himself for allowing the boy to get to him.  
Chris was playing with the edge of his cards as if he was contemplated whether or not he should get up, he looked to his group. The others were waiting for him to make the first move. Even JD was holding off jumping up and bolting to the door. He could feel the anticipation from them all and he held back a smile.  
Chris tossed his cards to Ezra and stood. The others following him. Ezra collected his deck and quickly pocketed them. As one, they walked to the door, not bothering to fix the desks that they had rearranged.  
Chris casually walked out the room at a purposefully slow pace to annoy Stephen. As he passed the other group, he saw Mary looking at him with interest. He was to understand that Stephen liked her. She was pretty, but for him there was only one. With that firmly in his head, he walked down the hall.  
“Chris, what do you think he wants?” asked Buck, announcing himself on Chris’s left.   
Chris didn’t answer. He was trying to calculate possible reasons why they were being called to see Travis.  
“Do you think he has a mission for us?” asked Vin who was on the right. Vin always stood to his right.   
He popped a sucker in his mouth and stuffed the wrapper in his pocket. The sound of him sucking on the candy had grown to become background noise to Chris. It was a habit Vin had, that no one had bothered to correct him on. He was happy and that made it worth hearing the occasional sucking noise.  
“I hope so, I don’t out this hideous uniform everyday just for his amusement.” Ezra complained as he pulled at the collar. Ezra fell in line directly behind Chris, almost like he was trying to hide in the taller boy’s shadow.  
“It probably wouldn’t be so tight if you take the tie off you know.” huffed Nathan from beside him.  
“Appearances are everything.” Ezra said and as his hands fell back down to his sides.  
They walked the rest of the way contemplating what the man wanted to talk to them about.  
As they walked, other groups would shift to the side in order for them to walk down the middle of the hallway. There were whispers, but then again there were always whispers.  
Buck would occasionally send a smile at a girl who would giggle and JD would elbow him in his side. This only made the older boy snatch the hat off if JD’s head and wave it around out of his reach.  
\---------------  
When they arrived, they saw that another group was already present. Travis dismissed them and the seven took their place in the vacated chairs.   
Travis sat at the head of the table with a stack of folders in front of him. The boy’s waited anxiously for him to speak. Chris, who was never an optimist, trained his features to hide any emotion when JD began.  
“Are we finally getting put in the field?” the little boy asked.  
The others chide their youngest, but couldn’t help the questioning looks in their own eyes.  
“No, this is a group review.”  
The boys slumped in their chairs and all but groaned. Chris crossed his arms.  
“We had one last week!” Buck reminded.  
“And you probably wouldn’t have one this week if you had straighten yourselves out.” said Travis before calming himself and starting again, “Look boys, you’ve done well since you’ve arrived. You even became the best group in the program. You’ve mastered and even surpassed levels in your fields.”   
“I sense a ‘but’ the size of Canada.” mumbled Buck.  
“But you also have the most infractions.” continued Travis.  
“What’s that?” asked JD.  
“When you do something wrong.” explained Nathan.  
“I’m sure you’re already aware of your infractions since the individual review. Josiah and Nathan, you need to return the books and be present for night roll call.” Nathan and Josiah looked at each other guiltily. “JD, stop sneaking off in the middle of the night to the other boys’ rooms. Watching movies online illegally is illegal. I don’t know how else to explain that to you.” JD huffed. “Ezra, the poker games need to stop. I’m not asking you to return the money, but if this continues I will be taking it from you, and your cards.” Ezra’s eyes got huge and he unconsciously touched his pocket. “Buck, if I hear that anymore of those magazines are in your room, then you’ll be on cleaning duty for another month and will have internet and book privileges taken away.” Buck laughed nervously as the other looked at him. “Vin, I hear you’ve been skipping out on your school lessons yet again. How do you expect to keep up with kids your age? I hear you haven’t been taking your medicine either.” Vin rolled his eyes and mumbled under his breath. “And Chris, I’ve told you that I don’t accept any violence. I heard two days ago you hit someone. You’re supposed to be the leader. Have you no control over what this group does?”  
Chris glared at the director, but held his tongue.  
“I’d prefer if you use your words, Larabee.”  
Chris looked away, still not going to say anything. If he did then he’d probably say something he’d regret later down the road.  
“In any case, until you all get your act together, you will be pushed back from receiving any missions.” Travis stood and walked out of the debriefing room.  
Once he was gone did the complaints start pouring out.  
“This is stupid! Why is he coming down on us? We’re doing everything he asked of us. What more does he want? So what if we do a few things on the side. It’s not like we’re hurting anyone. Well except Chris.” said Buck.  
“It’s not your fault Chris. We know that idiot was harassing Vin.” Josiah said with a weak smile.  
“I could’ve handled them.” Vin bit back.  
“Guys, can we please focus on the fact that we aren’t allowed to go on missions until we get our act together.” Nathan frowned.  
“I don’t see what’s wrong with our behavior. We’re naturally curious and goof off. It’s what any guy does.” muttered JD.  
“So what does our fearless leader want to do about this?” asked Ezra.  
The six boys turned to Chris. Chris looked up, surprised but it quickly disappeared in frustration.  
“Why should it be my responsibility to straighten you guys out?” Chris growled and walked out.  
“It was just a jest.” Ezra said softly.  
The others sighed in disappointment and slowly went back to their rooms.

 

The next day was training for marksmanship. All the boys except Nathan were in attendance with others who were in the class.  
The boys were grouped together to the side, Chris stood off from the rest.  
“Looks like there’s trouble in paradise.” snickered a boy from group six.  
“Honestly that group is the cause of so much trouble. If they weren’t so good they’d probably be in some boot correctional camp.” scoffed another boy.  
“What did you say!” growled Buck. Josiah and Ezra held him back.  
“Easy Buck.” said Josiah.  
“Yeah, keep your disease to yourself. We don’t want to end up like you and lose the chance to go on missions. You guys maybe good, but you guys don’t have what it takes in the field.”  
“What did you just say?” said Ezra, pushing Buck out of the way and went after the boy himself.  
A fight broke out with Ezra and another boy in the midst of it.  
“Chris, do something!” Josiah called urgently.  
Chris snapped out of his train of thought and pushed his way through the crowd. The boys gave way to him till it was just Ezra and the boy. He tried separating them, but only got his long arms twisted in the squabble. He had to remind himself that this was Ezra. Ezra never got into fights, he always tried to prevent his clothes from getting dirty.  
Chris grabbed Standish by the collar and pulled him back. Ezra pulled away and straightened his clothes. Pulling at his collar to loosen it up.  
“You.” Chris addressed the boy, “If I ever see or hear about you messing with one of my boys, you won’t be dealing with them, but with me.”  
The boy and his friends retreated to the other side of the room.  
Josiah and Buck watched them go.  
“I can’t stand them.” Vin grimaced.  
“They have too much time on their hands if you ask me.” Buck scoffed.  
“I can’t wait to cream them in today’s match of commando.” Vin smiled.  
“We usually win our matches.” Josiah reminded them.  
“Yeah but this time, we should ask that we have two opponents instead of just the one.” smiled Ezra, “Larabee has an extra incentive to terminate those guys.”  
They watched as their leader went back to his spot of isolation.

“Chris,” called Vin. He and Buck were the only ones who would dare interrupt Chris’s brooding.  
Chris turned to the smaller boy.  
“Can you ask the instructor to have us go against two teams this round?”  
There was questioning in Chris’s eyes, but he nodded and went to the instructor. The man in charge was a little surprised but agreed to let it happen.  
Team seven was to go against team three and six. Team six had the boys who had badmouthed them earlier. As Chris and the others prepared, they talked amongst themselves.  
“Since we’re going against twice the amount we usually do then we’ll need to work on a strategy.”  
“I don’t think we need to change what’s already working. We haven’t lost yet.” grinned Buck as he played with his pistol.  
“Still, I don’t want you to get cocky and bungle it up.”  
“We can’t lose. It’s improbable no matter how you lay the odds.” Ezra said as he loaded his pistol with paint balls.

 

The boys had won but not after losing Ezra, Buck and JD.  
The other teams suffered many casualties and a few bruises.  
Chris made an effort, along with Buck and Ezra, to get the kid who was all talk earlier. Chris got him twice in the chest, Ezra in the knee cap, and Buck in the boy’s private.  
All of team six suffered the fate of their comrade, but not the same extent. They were all rubbing their wounds where the paint hit them.  
Team seven laughed amongst themselves while Chris took off his vest and other protection.  
“I say that was a solid win.” grinned Buck.  
“You would?” came Chris’s voice from the other side of the waiting room.  
The other boy’s stopped with what they were doing and looked at Chris.  
“Well yeah, we won and we destroyed that boy’s self-confidence. Probably even his bladder with my shot.” Laughed Buck heartedly.  
“We did not win today. It was a lost. Three of you guys died today. Did you even stop to think about that?”  
The group was silent.  
“It’s just a game, Larabee.” Ezra said finally.  
“Is it, Standish? Cause as I recalled, you threw yourself in the line of fire unnecessarily. We can’t cover you if you run out into the open like that!” Chris turned his glares on Buck, “You can’t talk about JD getting shot because you yourself got killed and for what, a cheap shot. You shoot to kill. Shooting feet won’t save your life!”  
“But doesn’t it prevent from ending another life?” said JD softly.  
“If this were real, you’d be dead!” Chris said before stalking off.  
The others watched him walk off. A boy in Chris’s way got shoved into the wall for not being quick enough.  
“I sometimes wonder at the arbitration and allowing us into this program and the decision to allow Larabee near lethal weapons.” said Ezra.  
“What?” Buck snapped, “Chris, ain’t some mental deranged person!”  
“He nearly stabbed Vin!” Ezra pointed out.  
Vin dug his hands into his pockets, frowning. Josiah put a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him.  
“Can we please stop talking like this!” JD begged.  
Ezra looked away, a little ashamed of his behavior.  
They walked to their rooms to find Nathan waiting up for them.  
“Hey, I thought you guys would’ve been back by now.” he called as he approached them.  
“We talked.” Josiah offered the excuse for the group.  
“Did Chris already come back?” asked Vin.  
Nathan rose an eyebrow, “Wouldn’t he be with you?”  
“He went ahead.” frowned Buck, and he scratched his head, “Then where did he go?”  
\---------------  
Ezra and JD had to go to their computer skills class while Buck had hand to hand combat. Vin was in his tracking skills class, leaving Josiah and Nathan to relax and read their books. After about an hour the others returned. Vin and Buck were the first to arrive since their classes were near each other.  
“Is Chris here, he wasn’t in class.” asked Buck as he walked in the door.  
“No, he hasn’t come in yet. I haven’t seen him all day.” said Nathan, putting down his book. Josiah did the same and they both got up.  
Just then JD and Ezra walked in.  
“Please, you don’t have to stand because I walked in. They usually only do it for girls or royalty.” Ezra joked as he sat down on the mini sofa.  
“Well you definitely ain’t royalty, we know that for sure.” huffed Nathan.  
“Chris hasn’t returned yet.” said Josiah before the two could start.  
Ezra dropped the jokes and became serious.  
The whole room became full of nervous concern.  
“You don’t think he’s still upset about what happened in marksmanship class, do you?” asked Ezra.  
“Chris does sulk sometimes, but he’d let us know where he was in case something happened.” Buck sighed.  
Vin ran out the door, the others running after him.  
“Where are you going?” called JD as he tried to keep up with Vin’s long legs and he power walked the halls.  
“To look for Chris.”  
“Excellent idea. Vin’s a tracker, he should be able to find him.” said Ezra.  
“You’re acting like we’re in a forest where there are foot prints and broken foliage to help find him.” Nathan said shaking his head.  
“But Vin is literally a human Chris tracking device. It’s like his sixth sense.”  
As they wondered the hall, they came across Stephen and Mary who walking in the opposite direction.   
Buck cursed under his breath, wanting to turn around, or at least have them not stop to talk to them.  
“You guys look like an animal with their head chopped off, running around without a leader to guide you.” Stephen smirked.  
“Actually, if the animal doesn’t have a head then it’d be dead.” JD remarked.  
Buck didn’t bother to keep in his laughter.  
Stephen didn’t seem to care though and kept talking, “It seems you all might have to start thinking of another name for yourselves. It be stupid to call yourselves magnificent seven if it’s just the six of you after today.”  
“What did you do?” growled Buck.  
“I didn’t do anything. Chris is leaving on his own free will.” He smirked and then continued to walk off.  
Mary lingered behind.  
Buck and the others looked at one another in confusion of what to do next.  
She addressed them.  
“I heard that the director got a call and asked for Chris to come and see him.”  
The boys thanked her and headed towards Travis’s office.

\------------------------------------------------Meanwhile with Chris---------------------------------

Chris slowed down his pace till he finally came to a stop. He knew he shouldn’t have been so angry with the others. They were just blowing off their frustration after that boy bad mouthed their group. He even had a little fun hitting him with the paint balls.   
It was only when he saw Buck then Ezra then JD get hit, did it actually occur to him what all of this was training them for. The orange paint on Ezra’s stomach wasn’t paint anymore but blood. The orange on JD’s chest was red. The matted hair by wet paint could’ve had a different ending.  
Chris closed his eyes trying not to think about it. These boys had become his family and he’d be damned if that ever happened to any of them. He’d die before it ever happened.  
“Chris Larabee.” came a girl’s voice, shaking him from his thoughts.  
He looked up and found Mary standing in front of him. He looked her over in disinterest. He knew it would eventually happen when the girl would approach him. She looked at him enough that Chris would’ve to be blind not to see it.  
“The director would like to speak with you.” she continued when it was obvious Chris wasn’t going to say anything.  
Chris didn’t show his surprise. He’d been expecting that the girl wanted to talk to him about whatever it was that made her so fascinated about him.  
He gave a sharp nod and stepped around her to continue walking, only this time, to the director’s office.

He stepped inside and saw that the room had a chair already ready for him and he sat down. Travis was working on papers so he waited patiently since he didn’t have hand to hand combat until later.  
Chris had been in the room a couple of times before. His first day, he’d been brought in to go over how things were going to work for him and his friends. He himself was a special case along with Ezra and Buck. They each had a parent out there still. Buck’s mom didn’t mind him going though. Ezra’s mother was still MIA with no way to reach her. Chris however still had his father who was in prison.  
Travis finished his writing and set the papers aside to give Chris his full attention.  
“Chris, I just want to start out by telling you that I enjoy having you in the program even if you and your friends misbehave. You are all so talented and will move on to do great things.” His words fell on deaf ears so he got to the point, “I just received a call earlier today that your father’s parole hearing was a couple days ago and that he was given parole.”  
Chris tried to keep his features from showing that the information affected him.  
“I was told that he would like to meet and talk to you. You wouldn’t have to be alone and it can be as long as you want, or you don’t have to go at all.”  
“You’re suggesting awful strong in me seeing him.” Chris said bitterly.  
“It’s not good to burn bridges. Especially with family.”  
Chris’s hands which were clasped together to control his anger were white knuckled now.  
“Is that all you wanted to tell me then?”  
“Yes well, and I’d like a response as to whether you’ll see him or not.”  
“Not.” Chris got up quickly and left the room. He released the breath that he was unconsciously holding and found an empty staircase to hide underneath while the silent tears fell from his eyes.  
How could they let the man go free? The man who was the reason behind his mother’s death. The one who abused him. Been the dark shadow that lingered over him. The cause of so many sleepless nights and nightmares. The one who made him believe adults could not be trusted.  
Chris stayed under the stairs for twenty minutes, trying to control himself from throwing up. It felt like an eternity by the time he walked out and made his way to class.  
When he reached the door though, he didn’t go in. Instead he kept going and went out the front door and didn’t look back.  
If the people who called Travis knew where he was then his father did too. This was the downside of trying to live by adult’s rules.  
A part of him told him to stop. He thought about his friends and how they’d probably know that he’d gone missing.  
He walked down the street to a familiar house and looked inside the drawn back windows.

 

“Travis! What’s going on? Why did you kick Chris out?” Buck yelled angrily as he stormed into the office, announcing himself and the others.  
Travis frowned at his sudden guess and what Buck had said, “If you’d just calm down and just ask without yelling then maybe I can understand you and be able to answer your question. What do you mean I kicked Chris out? I did no such thing.”  
“We can’t find Chris anywhere. He didn’t go to class and he hasn’t been back in the rooms.” said Vin.  
Travis looked at all the boys and sighed, he didn’t know what to expect out of any of them, but he wanted to hit himself for not seeing this one coming. Chris was notorious for running away. Heck the boy could probably write a book about all the times he escaped.  
Now Travis was left to try and calm down the boy’s worried friends.  
“Chris and I only had a conversation that was about his personal life. I cannot tell you boys any of the details, but I will say that it concerned his father.”  
Buck was the only one who reacted at the news.  
Travis noticed.  
“What about him?” asked Vin, who didn’t know much about him other than he was still alive and Chris never talked about him.  
“He wants to see Chris.” said Travis simply. He watched as the words seemed to affect Buck.  
“Did he?” asked Buck, his features serious.  
“I wouldn’t know.” said Travis. It was true and also a lie. He didn’t know if Chris would change his mind and see him, but he had a feeling that running away right after saying he didn’t want to see the man would seem impossible that he’d be going to him.  
“Ok then.” said Buck in his own way of a thanks before walking out.  
The others who didn’t understand any of it just followed after him.  
Vin, who was riding on his heels finally spoke up, “So he’s going to go see his dad?”  
“I didn’t even know he had parents.” Nathan said softly.  
“We all have our secrets, Nathan.” Ezra nodded in understanding.  
“Where’s he been then?” asked JD.  
They all looked to Buck.  
“I think it best if we go back to the room first. Maybe he is back now.” Buck suggested.  
They all agreed and walked back to the room that acted as a lobby area that connected to their bedrooms. It was their own little suite. Chris had asked if they could be placed readily close together and Travis was kind enough to give them these accommodations. It didn’t fix the problem with JD needing to sleep with either Buck or Vin though.

 

Chris waited a little while later before a slender figure stepped out of the house wrapped up in a scarf and coat. She walked on over to meet him.  
“My father will kill you if he sees you out here.” she chastised.  
Chris couldn’t help but smile, “How are you, Sarah?”

A/N: So since this was originally supposed to be a trilogy, I’ll have to take a different approach to it and break it up into chapters. No more little short stories. Enjoy!!!


	2. Chapter 2

“How are you, Sarah?”  
“I’m doing well, and you. You look exhausted.” she said worriedly.  
Chris shuffled his feet and bit the inside of his lip to contain his grin.  
“What?” asked Sarah, throwing her hands on her hips and raising her eyebrows.  
“Nothing, it’s just good to finally get to talk to you. I miss you fretting over me.”  
Sarah slapped his arm and Chris feigned hurt, “Who’s worried about you?” she said before smiling again.  
Chris tried to keep his smile up but it eventually fell. Sarah’s brows furrowed.  
“Is something the matter?”  
“I’m just a little lost on what to do. I heard today that my father was released from prison and is on parole. He wants to see me.”  
Sarah was the only other person Chris told about his father besides Buck.  
“What do you think you should do?” she asked.  
“I don’t know.” he exhaled loudly, “I feel like running so hard and never look back except-”  
“Except what?”  
“There are these boys. They’re like family to me. I already left them behind when I walked out of the program. If I keep running and I never look back, I’ll lose the second best thing that has ever happened to me.”  
“The second?” Sarah frowned.  
“Meeting you will always be the number one best thing that has ever happened to me.” Chris smiled.  
Sarah smiled back and playfully hit him on the shoulder to try and knock some of the awkwardness away.  
“I know.” she said cheekily.  
Chris snorted and bowed his head.  
“So now that you know your answer, what will you do?” she asked.  
Chris looked up and then thought about it. He could keep running and hiding from his old man, or he could face him. Face his demon, as Josiah would call it.  
“Thank you.” he smiled wistfully.  
She smiled and then looked back at her house.  
“I better go back inside before my dad sees you.”  
Chris nodded.  
Sarah looked him over. He was still in his uniform with the old black leather jacket on top.   
It was pretty cold outside and she could see that his cheeks and nose were turning red.  
She took off her scarf and wrapped it around his neck. She kissed him on the cheek and then ran back inside.  
Chris watched her go in before heading back to the organization building. He kept his eyes on the ground, thinking over what he would do and say. He had a lot to say, but needed to organize it all so when the time came, he could say it right.  
He touched Sarah’s scarf, feeling the warmth from it. He smiled, this had to be the right way. ‘The road to healing’ as Josiah called it.  
His footsteps stopped when he saw a car pull up beside the curb and a man got out of the driver’s side.  
It was like tension hit him in the face and his back became ramrod straight. His spine shivering and his breath hitched.  
The man looked at him. His cool steel eyes, burrowing through Chris’s as he walked over.  
“Hey boy, didn’t expect you to come outside to greet me.”  
\---------------  
Chris had to take a minute to gather his thoughts which were now all scrambled.  
“I see you’re still slow.” scoffed the older Larabee.  
Chris glared at him, but the only effect it had was receiving another laugh.  
“Boy, I been to prison. You ain’t scaring me. Your face only looks like you’re pouting.”  
“You said you wanted to see me, why?” Chris was finally able to say in a low growl.  
“I see you’ve been taking care of my jacket like I told you.” The man pointed at the piece of clothing.  
Chris was told when his father was arrested that he’d beat the mess out of him if he loses the jacket. In fear Chris would wear it all the time to keep from losing it. Eventually it became a part of him like a layer of skin. It now almost fit him.  
When Chris didn’t respond, his father continued, “I hear you got yourself arrested and are in some kind of kid law enforcement.”  
“I’ve been arrested before, yes. I wasn’t however arrested and forced to join the organization. I chose to-”  
“Well ain’t that a dumbass decision.”   
Chris bristled and clenched his fist.  
“I did it so I could stay with my friends.”  
“Friends” scoffed his father, “you don’t have any friends. There’s Buck, but he’s something else. I told you that you don’t need anybody else but yourself, didn’t I?”  
“Because of that I’ve been living by myself in a rundown building with other homeless people for over a year.”  
“And these ‘friends’ of yours, they’re the reason you’re here?”  
“They’re family.”  
His father rose his eyebrows and then laughed, “This kid. You don’t even know what a family is.”  
Chris was tired of the constant rebuke and was ready to leave, but his father kept talking, “I’ll tell you what family is. It’s blood. That means you and me.”  
Chris wanted to say ‘no, you’re wrong’, but he held his tongue. He turned to go back inside, but his father grabbed him by the arm.  
At first Chris thought his father was going to start hitting him, but the man pushed a slip of paper in his hands before letting him go again.  
“Just in case you need to get in touch. I’ll let you continue playing house with your ‘friends’.”  
Chris watched as his father got back in his car and drove off.

 

Buck had explained to the others that when he and Chris were little and Chris lived with his parents, Chris was real quiet.  
“He is quiet still!” Nathan pointed out.  
“No, quiet as in, drop a pen and he’d flinch something terrible as if he was expecting someone to hit him.” Buck explained before continuing on with his story.  
Chris’s dad used to be in the military and when he came back he was completely different and drank a lot. He began to get abusive and started to hit his wife and then Chris. It got so bad that Chris’s mom got hurt when she came down wrong after getting slapped across the face and hit her head on the edge of the coffee table. She was rushed to the hospital and was a vegetable for three months before his father pulled the plug. Chris became the center of abuse and soon child services found out from a teacher who happened to notice Chris’s bruises. The boy said they were from him falling, but some were too extreme from falling off a bike or swing. His father was arrested and was sent to prison for a maximum of ten years. Chris was never the same and was bounced from foster home to foster home. Some parents would abuse him and he’d fight back, resulting in him being returned as a violent child. He was eventually placed in the Connelly household where they had a daughter. Chris really liked Sarah and she liked him. Mr Connelly didn’t like bad elements hanging around his daughter and had him kicked out during winter a couple years ago. He stayed with Buck for a month before he disappeared for six weeks, only to pop up in an abandon building filled with homeless people.  
“And that’s the story. Tell anyone else and I’ll kill you before he comes and kills me.”  
The others just sat there in their little circle, trying to absorb the story. JD didn’t understand everything, but understood the man was bad and so was Sarah’s dad.  
Ezra was thinking about how he and Chris had so much in common, getting thrown into a new family one after the other. The abuse and the lies behind the bruises.  
Vin was having similar thoughts and Josiah was sympathetic because he knew the abuse from a father.  
Nathan understood the constant move from one family to the next.  
“I understand why he ran away so as not to see him, but why wouldn’t he tell us at least where he was going?” said Vin.  
“What’s all this?” came a voice from behind.  
They all turned and saw Chris standing behind them.  
The boys all got up, Vin and JD ran to hug him.  
“Okay.” he said, not sure what to make of what was going on.  
“We thought you were going to run away.” Josiah explained from behind the smaller boys.  
“I was thinking about it. Part of me really wanted to, but that was just me being a coward.” Chris said as he touched Sarah’s scarf.  
“Why did you change your mind?” Ezra asked, curious of what he would say.  
“An angel told me to return.” Chris said, looking to Buck.  
“An angel? You saw one?” asked JD.  
Buck, who understood what Chris meant, smiled.  
“Don’t worry Chris, we’ll stand by you when he comes.” said Nathan offering his support.  
“Huh?” frowned Chris.  
“When your dad comes.” JD clarified.  
“I already saw him.”  
There was a lengthy silence before another wave of questions began.  
“What happened?”  
“Did he hurt you?”  
“Are you ok?”  
“Why didn’t you ask for a restraining order?”  
“He was a butt, what do mean did he hurt me? No I’m fine. A restraining order, seriously Ezra.”  
Ezra shrugged.  
“But why do you ask if he hit me?”  
Chris looked at Buck who looked away quickly. Chris frowned.

We are experiencing difficulties because the writer had to stop Chris from killing Buck. The scene is too horrible that the author cannot even put into words what happened…

 

Chris settled back on the couch still glaring at Buck who was picking himself off the floor.  
“Are you ok now?” asked Buck, rubbing his sore jaw.  
“Don’t tempt me to actually fight. I was holding back, next time you won’t be so lucky.” Chris growled.  
“Aw, I’m so used to your little love taps that I think my jaw can rival the man of steel’s.”  
“So what happened, if you don’t mind us asking?” asked Nathan.  
Chris scratched his head, trying to think of what to actually tell his friends.  
“You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.” Josiah added.  
Chris looked to the other boys who were all waiting for a response. He sighed.  
“Really it felt like he was just trying to piss me off. Saying I’m wasting my life here and that I’m better off living alone like I used to.”  
“You ain’t gonna leave us are you?” JD asked hurriedly.  
Chris shook his head, “I figured that by doing the exact opposite of what he said would piss him off.”  
“Did he get mad at you?”  
“He feigned disappointment, but that was probably the criminal in him talking. He was never a dad to me anyway.”  
There was a silence that lasted a while. None of the boys knowing if they should break it or not.  
“Well it’s a good thing you came back. I didn’t want to go chasing your butt around town and drag you back here.” Buck grinned.  
The other boy’s looked to Chris to see how he’d respond, but when Chris only smiled, they knew it was ok to relax.

At night when it was time for bed, Chris slipped the leather jacket off and tossed it over the back of the chair at his desk. A slip of paper fell out and he paused to look at it. Bending over, he picked up the small piece of stationary. It was on a corner of what looked like a brochure. In heavy print, was nine numbers scribbled down.  
Chris stared at it with disinterest for a minute before tossing it in the trash can and finish getting ready for bed.

 

The next day, the building was buzzing with gossip. Kids looked even more nervous when the infamous magnificent seven walked by them.  
“Do you think it could’ve been them?” asked one girl to her companion.  
Buck stopped dead in his tracks and turned to them. The girls immediately jumped.  
“Huh?” he grunted at them.  
“Nothing!” said the two girls before running off down the hall.  
“Scaring girls away now Buck?” Chris said in a half grin.  
“Funny.” Buk deadpanned, “I keep hearing people talking about some sort of leak. I wish they would just spit it out and just say what’s going on.”  
“A leak is a vegetable, Bucklin.” Ezra said sarcastically and then grinned as the other boy tried to slap him upside the head.  
“Have you heard what’s going on, Ezra?” their leader asked.  
Ezra stopped moving, but didn’t put down his hands, which were defending his face.  
“I didn’t get much from the kid I was playing poker with, but apparently some information regarding the organization has been leaked and there is a rumor going around that the leak is in one of the teams, or it could be the entire team. Some others believe that whomever this person or people are, are working closely to with an enemy of the director and that they may try to infiltrate here. In short, we may want to cut our losses and leave this place before I- we get hurt in some shape or form, or someone starts putting the blame on us.”  
“Then they’d definitely will think it’s us if we leave!” Nathan snapped.  
“Well, we’d be away so it wouldn’t matter what they thought. I won’t sit here and listen to them run my name in the ground.”  
“They may even try to stop us. Have people chase us down.” said Josiah.  
“Please,” huffed Vin, “have you seen the other groups? They’d have no chance against us. Not in here, and definitely not on the streets which is our home turf.”  
“You said that it could be a member of one of the teams or the whole team.” Chris said, ignoring everyone but Ezra.   
“That is correct.”  
“Do they have any idea? Any leads?”  
“So far as in skill wise to hack into the organization’s secret files, there are a few candidates who have been named. They cancelled out a few and looked at ones who may have motive or just the desire to see this place fall.”  
“What’s their names?” asked Nathan.  
“Our very own, JD, our fearless Larabee, and myself.” said Ezra, his eyes which serious never leaving Chris as he spoke.  
“That’s nuts! Why would any of you want to bring down 4C? Especially JD!” growled Buck.  
“It’s a simple explanation after I uh interviewed the boy privately in the bathrooms. They believe that Chris is the main culprit who wants to see the organization fall, especially with his wild behavior. Now, while Larabee has skill with a computer, it probably isn’t enough to get him into the secret files. That’s where, according to Lucas from team six, he’d have JD and myself do it for him because we’re incapable of doing anything for ourselves without orders.”  
“So they’re basically blaming Chris.” said Vin in a low voice, hiding his rage.  
“And us.” said Ezra, gesturing his hand to JD and himself. “They’re just short of making the infamous magnificent seven viral.”  
“That’s not good.” Josiah shook his head.  
The sound of someone clearing their throat made the boys turn to see Inez standing behind them with Mary.  
“What?” barked Buck, normally he would’ve at least been polite. Now however, he was dealing with rumors of his friends being traitors.  
Inez rose an eyebrow at him in surprise but didn’t say anything, leaving that for Mary.  
“The director would like to talk to you.” she said in a cool voice, keeping up a professional appearance.  
The boys all moved towards the office, but she put up a hand, “Just Chris.”  
“Like hell I’m going to let him go by himself!” shouted Buck.  
Vin crossed his arms and stood next to Chris.  
“Surely there’s no reason for it to be just Larabee.” Ezra snapped in frustration, letting out more emotion then he usually did in front of others.  
“It’s ok, I’ll meet up with you guys later.” said Chris before walking, alone this time, to the office.

 

Chris stopped outside of Travis’s office. He could hear people talking inside about the leak. Normally he would’ve kept listening from the door, but he was better than that and knocked. Travis told him to enter and he found the director and another man standing in the corner of the room.   
Chris stood against the wall and waited for the director to speak first.  
“Chris, I’m not going to beat around the bush so I’ll just get right to it.” began Travis,   
“You are aware of the fact there are rumors going around that a leak has been discovered. Giving information who would wish to see this program and myself destroyed.”  
“I became aware of those rumors this morning, yes sir. I was also made aware that there were rumors floating about that I was the person responsible of leaking said information.”  
The man who had been standing in the room and watching now made himself present, “Then you understand why should answer our questions seriously and not withhold any information.”  
Chris frowned, “I do not know you sir and therefore, I have no reason to cooperate with you.”  
Travis put his hand up so that the man wouldn’t stop arguing with Chris. “Chris, this is Detective Bryce. He is in charge of the investigation regarding the leak. It would be nice if you would cooperate with him.”  
Chris looked the man up and down as if sizing him up.  
“Where were you this morning at 10 am?” asked the detective.  
“Depends. Where should I have been? Leaking the files right?”  
“We don’t have time for games, son. Do you know the claims made against you are serious?”  
“It seems that you have made your decision whether or not I’m guilty. Why then should I even bother to defend myself? Is this how the justice system works, on word and gossip alone, if that’s the case then I shouldn’t be here?” Chris turned to Travis.  
“Until we can straighten out this situation I think it best if you keep a low profile for now Chris.”  
“Low profile,” huffed Bryce, “I want him out of here. I don’t care if it’s suspension or permanent. That is if you don’t want to be arrested.”  
Chris pushed off the wall he was resting against, “I ain’t your son.” He took one last glance at Travis before waking to the door, “I’ll pack my bags then. I wasn’t planning on staying on here forever anyway.”  
Once Chris was gone Bryce turned to Travis.  
“That boy is trouble. I don’t know what hole you found him in but trust me, his absence will make this investigation go better even if he isn’t involved.”  
Travis didn’t think the same way as Bryce. He thought that a person’s actions spoke louder than words. The Larabee boy was a good person. Better than some of the people he worked with in his department, and with better morals. He couldn’t see Chris doing something like this. After working so hard to create a good relationship with him, it had all been torn apart in one fell swoop.

 

The rest of the seven were waiting in the classroom room for Chris to meet up with them after talking to the director. They were nervous about why it was taking him so long.  
“Maybe we should’ve waited for him in our rooms.” Vin said after another five minutes passed and their leader hadn’t shown up yet.  
The door opened and they all stood up expectantly. Chris walked in, his face not betraying anything that he was thinking about.  
“Well,” Buck asked, “what did Travis say?”  
“He didn’t say much. The detective in charge of the investigation has suggested that I be put on probation until further notice.”  
“What? Didn’t you tell them you didn’t do it?” asked JD.  
“I don’t see why. It makes sense to blame the person with a sketchy background. Yeah they’re wrong, but if they actually do their jobs then they’ll find that out sooner or later. I never had any good reputation to be tainted by this gossip so whatever.”  
“But you said you’re leaving.” Vin repeated Chris’s words.  
“Yeah.”  
“Then I’m leaving too.” said Vin.  
“Me too.” Buck nodded.  
One by one the others nodded their agreement.  
“I can earn money from people just as easily. Though I may have to fight disgruntled losers now.”  
“Thanks Ezra for your sacrifice.” Chris deadpanned.  
“You have no idea what sacrifices I’m making.”  
“So I guess that team seven is leaving 4C Organization then.” smiled Josiah.  
“Don’t sound so happy, Josiah. I’ll miss the free food.” mumbled Buck.  
“The deserts.” Vin nodded sympathetically.  
Chris shook his head and smiled at his friends.  
“Well I guess we’re saying goodbye to 4C then.” said Nathan.  
\---------------  
Mary and Inez were going to meet up with Stephen and Casey when they saw Team Seven walking towards them. They were dressed in civilian clothes and carrying bags.  
“Going on a holiday break or something?” asked Mary when the boys reached them.  
“We’re saying goodbye to this dump. We ain’t going to let them bad mouth or friends and pretend everything is kosher.” huffed Buck.  
JD nodded, “We’re bouncing!”  
“Leaving this joint.” Vin laughed.  
“Adieu.” smiled Ezra. “Ce fut un Plaisir.” (It’s been a pleasure)  
“Blessings for you and your friends.” nodded Josiah.  
“Wait a minute,” Mary blurted quickly, “What’s going on?”  
“They’re kicking Chris out of here, so we aren’t going to stay.” Nathan answered.  
Mary turned to Chris, “You shouldn’t have to go if you didn’t do anything wrong. Maybe if I talk to Travis.”  
“It wasn’t Travis who suggested I leave.” said Chris.  
She sighed, losing ideas.  
“I hope where ever you go that you will be alright.” Inez offered, “All of you.”  
“Thanks.” Buck smiled and the boys went on their way.

 

Travis shook his head as he watched from the window of his office, seven boys walk out of the building carrying their few belongings.  
“I still think you’re doing the wrong thing here, Bryce. Larabee maybe hot headed at times but he’s an excellent member of this organization. He and his team are already considered the best and are exceptional in their fields.”  
“You don’t think I know about that Larabee boy,” he said the name with vehemence, “I know about all seven of them. At least what I could find. Larabee’s father just received probation after being sentenced to prison for child abuse and manslaughter.”  
“So why do I get the sense that you’re looking at Chris like he’s the father?” sighed as he sat down.  
“The apple never falls far from the tree, Travis. That boy may not have killed anyone yet, but he has anger management problems and violent tendencies. He’s a runaway- several of those boys are- and has interfered with police business on more than one occasion.”  
“That maybe, but you’re willfully overlooking the good he has done. All of those boys. He took some of those boys in and is like a father to some of them who never even had a real father. They’ve help find the missing foster kids and provided evidence of child abuse. Do you think that’s the behavior of a criminal and a person who’s trying to kill me and this organization?”  
“You’re too attached to this. You should also be home and under protection till we solve this case.”  
“Thank you for caring about my well-being, but I have an organization to run here and I can’t leave in good conscience that they may be targeted because of me.”  
“I’ll make sure that the chief will appoint someone to take your place while the investigation is underway.”  
Travis ran his hand through his hair and nodded. He wouldn’t have a choice in the end so it was better that he cooperate and go along.  
\------------------  
Chris and the others stopped outside of the Playground. They didn’t talk about the reason they left, saving it for when they had stopped for the night.  
“It feels so long since we’ve been here.” smiled Vin.  
“Yeah, I can’t remember the last time I was able to just sit around and scheme up some jobs for us to do.” Buck agreed.  
“Can we do one? For old time sake?” asked Vin  
“Oh yeah that sounds like fun!” JD clapped.  
“I think we should figure out what’s going on with that leak. Someone is threatening Travis right? Shouldn’t we do something to stop that from happening?” Nathan asked, looking at the others.  
Buck crossed his arms, “I don’t see why it would be our problem. If they were real professionals then they would’ve known Chris was innocent and wouldn’t have suspended him.”  
“That may be true, but we have a duty as members of the 4C to find this leak and stop the people going after Travis. We’re the only ones who have any experience in the field.” Josiah said, trying to reason with the others.  
Vin shrugged.  
“I think Josiah has made a valid point. With our prowess we can solve this expeditiously before the FBI.” Ezra grinned.  
Chris gave a tired smile, “I guess we got no choice then. I guess we’re going to solve the case of the leak in 4C.”  
The boys nodded and with that they went inside and ate some frozen yogurt.  
At night they crashed at Buck’s house. The plan in the morning was to research what was actually happening at 4C. They would need to find out what information had been leaked and where that information had been sent.  
Chris played with the end of the blanket he was using with Vin. The two were laying on the floor while Ezra and JD used the couch. His head was still active at one in the morning, trying to come up with a plan of action. It had been a while since he had to do so and he was determined to prove to Travis that his group was ready for the field. This wasn’t just about solving the case of the leak and threats, it was to prove a point.  
Shifting to lay on his side, he thought about his father who had once again came into his life. Chris frowned, he didn’t know why when he was packing to leave 4C that he picked the number up and slipped it into his pocket. He heard the saying to catch a criminal you need to think like one. While he could do that, he could also just contact one and ask questions, however that was to be a last resort. Chris wasn’t going to just crawl to him before even trying. His friends would have to drag him first.  
“You alright?” came a whisper over his shoulder. It was Vin.  
“Yeah.” Chris lied.  
“Don’t worry, we’ll get ‘em. Just like we always do.”  
Chris couldn’t help but smile at his friend’s optimism.   
Vin wasn’t always the optimist, but he would always try to present the good side in their relationship.  
‘Yin and Yang’ was what Josiah had called it.  
Chris smiled and finally closed his eyes. Yes, everything was going to be ok.

 

The next morning, Chris had sent Buck and JD to the library to find any information they could online about who might want Travis dead. He had to wait another two hours before Ezra woke up.  
The younger boy slept like a log and slept almost to noon. When he was awake, Chris assigned him to the task of finding out any information they could find that had been leaked. He also wanted to see if he could trace where the information had been sent and who may have sent it.  
“I prefer to actually be fully awake before receiving orders, Larabee. Can I at least acquire the lavatory before commencing in my task?”  
“I’m disinclined to acquiesce your request.” Chris quoted Pirates of the Caribbean as he walked off.  
“You think you’re funny, but it isn’t working!” Ezra called after him.  
Chris Nathan and Josiah went out early to get information of Travis’s family.   
At times like these, Chris wished he still had an inside man to tell him what was happening in 4C.  
He turned to see Vin staring expectantly at him, “What do you want me to do?”  
“I don’t have anything for you yet. Right now we’re just trying to find information on all the players that might be playing. No leg work needed yet.”  
Vin nodded, after a slight pause he turned back to his friends, “Do you think that one of us should’ve stayed behind to ask more questions from the other teams?”  
Chris was no longer surprised that the younger boy could read his thoughts. He shook his head.  
“It may have been helpful, but to go back isn’t a good idea now. We left the program and I’m pretty sure we won’t be so easily invited back just to be nosey.”  
Vin gave a small grin, “They don’t have to know one of us came back.”  
Chris gave Vin a knowing look, “No, you aren’t going to sneak back in. We’ll be fine.”  
“I’m going to go see if Ezra needs any help then.” said Vin, turning to go.  
Chris gave a little grunt before going outside into the still cool air. He tightened the scarf around his neck as he walked down the street. His plans were to check in on Buck and JD before looking for Nathan and Josiah. Chris wasn’t expecting them to have found everything, but he was hoping for a bit of information to get them started.

 

Buck was busy checking his Facebook on another computer while JD worked on the one beside him. He wasn’t paying too much attention on it since he was busy glancing at JD’s screen.   
The boy had begun to pull up news articles where the director’s name was present. He had been a detective for ten years before taking over the 4C organization, training teenagers into becoming junior spies and agents eventually.  
He had been the arresting officer of over two dozen criminals in just past three years. Most of them were in prison for over ten years.   
“How are we supposed to narrow down the search?” Buck asked from his seat.  
JD shrugged, “I’m sure there’s someone who wants him dead.”  
“Kid, I’m sure all of them want him dead for arresting them. From some of the information you found so far, I see at least five crazy serial killers he locked up.”  
JD blew out a puff of air and sat back in his chair, “Then I don’t know how to narrow it down. Maybe Ez should’ve been assigned to this.”  
“Aw come on, you’re more than capable of finding this twisted SOB.”  
JD looked at Buck with a raised eye brow, “What have you been doing?”  
Buck sat straight in his chair and turned to his screen, “Well I was checking Facebook to see about my ladies, but I stopped to read what you were looking up.”  
JD leaned over to see Buck’s screen, “You know you could help me search.”  
“I know, but seemed to be doing so well without me.” Buck grinned  
JD shook his head then frowned, “I didn’t know you were friends with Mary.”  
“Who?” Buck turned to his screen. A private message had recently appeared on his screen.  
He clicked on it.  
Hey Buck,   
Sorry If I’m bothering you. I couldn’t find any of the others on Facebook and I hope you won’t just ignore this. For my part, I don’t think Chris is guilty. I know it isn’t much, but I want to help clear his name so he can come back. It’s not the same without you guys and Travis and Stephen have been sent to a safe house. The new director is pretty strict so you’re probably safer away right now till Travis gets back. If my team or I can be of any assistance we would be more than happy to help.  
Mary

“Well what do you think of that?” Buck asked.  
“I think we should tell Chris. It may be helpful to have someone on is the inside.”  
“I’ll go and tell him then. You keep working on possible suspects.”  
He got up and almost ran right into Chris. The other caught him before he fell.  
“Easy now, what’s the rush?” Chris smiled.  
“I just got a message that was to you.” Buck pointed to his screen.  
Chris frowned and walked to the computer station. He read Mary’s letter and then sat back in the chair he was in.  
‘So what do you want me to tell her?” asked Buck.  
“I’m not sure if I want to involve them in something like this that could be dangerous. She said herself that the new director is strict. What would he do if he finds out that the girls are asking around? They could get kicked out just like me.”  
“I think they know the risk, hell they knew the risk of signing up to join 4C. Girls can be good at things guys are at too.”  
“We can’t protect them from the leak out here Buck! What if they are hurt or worse? We don’t know what this person is capable of.”  
There was a long silence as Buck and Chris glared at one another. JD cleared his throat trying to get their attention.   
“I started researching possible suspects that might have it in for Travis. It’s a long list since he’s put a lot of people in prison. Buck says that we should look at the crazy people who are serial killers. Most of those however are under high security places and haven’t been doing anything suspicious. Should I look for people who have been arrested more recently by Travis and work back?”  
Chris shook his head, “That will take too long.” A thought back to his father made a shiver crawl down his spine, “Check possible suspects that made parole and the police haven’t told Travis yet. Anyone who could’ve broken out of prison or has any ties to Travis currently.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Travis is affiliated with my father because he knows me. There are tons of kids in 4C who in their past life were juvenile delinquents, or were victims. Travis brought them in to give them another chance and the ability to make a difference. Maybe one of these kids has a relative that Travis arrested.”  
“Why the heck would he take in some criminal’s kid?” Buck frowned.  
“Guilt maybe.”  
“I’ll start looking.” JD nodded and began typing away.  
Buck looked at his friend who looked weary.  
“You ok man?”  
Chris nodded, “I’ll feel better when this is all over.”  
He began to leave but Buck grabbed his arm, “When this is all over and Travis is back, will you be going back?”  
Chris looked at his friend, trying to figure out the answer himself. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. He gave his friend a small smile before pushing his old friend’s hand away and continue downstairs and to the front door. When he reached the stairs his smile fell.   
If this really was a case involving someone who was on the inside and was leaking information, then he certainly wasn’t going to let the girls help. He tried to think of any of the people who may have a relative in prison. The list was too high. When he got back to the house he’d have Ezra check on that too.  
Outside he spotted Nathan and Josiah sitting on a bench.  
“You find anything?” he asked as he came to meet them.  
“Not that much but Ezra texted and said he needs to talk to you.” Josiah said, digging his hands into his pockets to keep them warm.  
Chris nodded and they made their way back to the house.

A/N: We survived another year!!! That deserves another chapter. Stay tune for more. Reviews are not required but are always welcomed.


	3. Chapter 3

Ezra was waiting for them when they arrived.  
“Ah, you’re here, excellent. I’ve found some very interesting things while you were away that can beneficial to unveiling our leak.”  
“Ok, shoot.” Chris ordered as he sat down in the chair next to Ezra to see the screen.  
“Now I tried the whole cracking into the organization’s system once before to watch some pirated movies-”  
“I thought that was JD?” Chris said with a raised eyebrow.  
“Where do you think he learned to do that from? Anyway, I had to go around the blocks set up by the organization’s main computer system in order to watch on certain sites. Now you know how the say goes, ‘breaking in is easier than breaking out’, well it’s true and false. I had to crack a couple of firewalls and bypass many security areas but I was able to eventually break in. This is something that only a really good hacker can pull off. I’m good of course and so is Dunne, but there aren’t that many who are in the computer skills classes at 4C. My original theory was to consider them as possible suspects, but what if we’re looking for someone not taking the classes.”  
“You think the leak is someone who isn’t in the class because they don’t need to take it?” frowned Chris.  
“Or they’re trying to avoid the attention. That would be my guess. If that were the case then we’ll be looking at over three hundred possible suspects.”  
“Tell me you narrowed it down.”  
“I did.” Ezra turned to his computer, “The person who leaked the information used the organizations computers. They tried to cover up their tracks but I managed to get find their user and password.”  
He clicked on a screen that pulled up the information.  
Chris looked at the screen, “Fuzzybare and myLITTLEpony34?”  
“Obviously it’s fake, but I was able to find out which computer it was and the exact day the leak released the information. I then used the surveillance cameras in the halls outside the computer room to see if I could find anyone who was in the room at the window it took to release the information.”  
Ezra clicked on a tab and brought up a video where it showed people going in and out of the computer room.  
“Now judging on this person’s skills, I think it probably took him about forty to forty-five minutes to get this done. Only a few people went in and out after fifty minutes.”  
Chris watched the familiar faces leave the room on the screen.  
“Does anyone of them stick out to you in particular?” asked Ezra, looking up from his screen.  
Chris sat silent, studying each face, “Maybe. And are you sure that this recording is the right date?”  
“Yes, the video shows a time and date stamp at the bottom.”  
“I’ll have you coordinate with JD. He’s pulling up names right now. He thinks that the leak is a possible relative of a criminal Travis put away.”  
“That would narrow things down considerably.”  
Chris stood up, “Email JD and have him send you his information.”  
“On it.”  
Chris joined Nathan and Josiah in the kitchen. Nathan was filling them each a glass of water.  
“So what did you guys find out?” asked Chris.  
“They moved Travis and his family out of town. Supposedly to a safe house.” scoffed Nathan.  
“What do you mean by supposedly?”  
“I was able to find some information about where they are hiding them when I snuck into the station.”  
“You snuck into the police station!”  
“Well actually I didn’t have to do much sneaking. Travis sends me there once a week to do some deliveries. They’re mostly private documents that are encrypted. Anyway, I was able to get by with the pass he gave me and I went into that Bryce fellow’s office. I found some documents on his desk where they have a few safe houses in the area.”  
“Are you freaking kidding me! Travis’s families lives in the hands of this idiot!” Chris growled.  
“The man had just left his office a few minutes before I snuck in, Chris. He wouldn’t have possibly known I would come in and find them.” Nathan said, trying to find reason behind the mistake.  
“The man should be fired!” Chris snapped, “This is exactly why we have to do things ourselves.”  
“Maybe one of us should go and warn the Travis that the safe house ain’t so safe.” Josiah suggested.  
“Yeah. Do you think you can sneak over there and do it? If not I can.”  
“I’m pretty big you know. Bigger and an easier target to shoot at. I also don’t have your skills.”  
Chris nodded, “Write down the address and I’ll head over there tonight.”

 

Chris waited until after JD and Buck got back before heading out when it was dark out.  
He took Buck’s old bike to ride over to the town about four miles away.  
It was about seven when he arrived. His legs ached from the journey and he set the bike down in an area that was in the shadows.  
Chris took his backpack off and fished inside, pulling out his binoculars.  
He looked around to count how many men were posted outside watching the house.  
As far as he could tell there were three. There were probably more hidden in the surrounding houses.  
Chris slipped his backpack on and began his mission.   
He climbed the drain pipe of a house two doors down that was up for sale.  
Climbing the ledge, he hoisted himself onto the little roof that was under a window to the second level. Digging through his bag again, Chris pulled out a crowbar. He jammed it into the bottom part of the window and began pushing on his bar. There was groaning noise before there came snap and the window opened.   
Chris crawled inside and looked around the room. He smiled when he found what he was looking for and began pulling more things out of his backpack.  
An old empty paint bucket, hickory wood and newspaper and a book of matches.  
He threw the wood and newspaper into the bucket and struck the match.  
Chris threw it into the bucket and held it up so the smoke would reach the smoke detector.  
It took a while but eventually the alarm went off. Chris pulled a water bottle out and put out his fire. Stuffing his things back into his backpack except the bucket, he climbed outside of the window and closed it. He jumped down to the ground and landed with a thud. His legs took most of the fall and he groaned as he picked himself up and threw the bucket into the bushes of the neighbor next door.  
He fled from the scene and watched as the police and fire department arrived. Chris waited until he saw that the officers that were watching the safe houses were distracted enough to sneak pass. He waited by the side of the house to catch his breath before looking for some way inside. There wasn’t a drain pipe at this side of the house to climb.  
Finally he settled on the overhanging branch of the neighboring house. It was about three feet away from balcony he was aiming for, but he’d go for it.  
Chris climbed the tree with little difficulty and crawled slowly across the branch. When he reached the part of the branch he could stand on without fear of it breaking under his weight he prepared to jump.  
After taking one more look to see if the officers were watching, Chris jumped. He fell short and he had to cling onto the railing to keep from falling. His head hurt from slamming into the railing and he shook his head to relieve the pain. Once he was ready to move again, he heaved himself up and over the railing and onto the safety of the balcony. Chris took a moment to collect his breath before getting up and picking the lock of the slide door. It opened with a little click and he slipped inside.  
Keeping his noise to a minimum and staying close to the walls, he went to the door. His heart was beating so fast that he couldn’t hear much.   
Chris opened the door a crack and peeked out. When he was sure no one was coming, he slid into the hall. He followed the voices of Travis and his family. They were downstairs it seemed.  
Picking his way down the steps and keeping as low to the ground as possible, Chris looked to see who was down there. He instantly saw an officer who was standing in the room with them.  
Crap.  
Chris pulled a piece of wood out of his bag and threw it in another room. He hid in the shadows as the officer went to investigate the noise.  
Still being quiet, Chris made his way down the rest of the stairs and into the room where the Travis family was sitting.  
“Chris.” Travis hissed.  
Chris put up his hand for him to be quiet.  
Travis shook his head and nodded in the direction of the kitchen.  
Chris followed him in with Stephen.  
“What the hell are you doing here?” asked Travis.  
“You aren’t even supposed to know where we are.” Stephen added.  
“Clearly you’ve never met me or my team. We can do anything and find anyone if we really tried, and it honestly didn’t even take JD or Ezra to find where you guys were at. The safe houses are not safe. That idiot playing director left the information of the safe house on his desk while he went out to go to the bathroom. Anyone could’ve seen it. You need to be relocated.”  
“I’ll take what you said into consideration Chris, but you being caught here isn’t good for you.”  
Chris turned to Travis.  
“Sorry if I find the officers incompetent. I’m not planning on getting caught by anyone.”  
“I caught you.”  
Chris smiled, “But did you really?”  
They heard the sound of the officer returning into the front room.  
“I hope you take my advice.” Chris said sternly.  
“Why should we?” Stephen scoffed.  
Chris turned to the other boy, “There’s a reason why your dad asked my friends and I to join the organization, not the other way around.” He turned to Travis, “I brought this burner phone. It has only one number in it. My team and I our working to find the person responsible. We should have their name by tonight. Josiah and Nathan will work together to see if we can find a safer place for your family.”  
Chris opened the window in the kitchen and climbed up on the counter, “I’ll be in touch.”  
He crawled out and darted to the fence.  
“You don’t really believe him do?” hissed Stephen.  
“Chris and his team are something special. They have the skills of a professional. I trust him.”

 

It was about ten when Chris finally made his way back to Buck’s house.  
His body was sore and he fell onto the couch with exhaustion.  
Ezra and JD were sitting beside each other going over their collective information.  
“Find our culprit yet?” he sighed, rubbing his burning calves.  
“We are fairly certain that we found him.” Ezra answered and handed Chris a piece of paper with two pictures on it.  
Chris looked it over and frowned, “Are you sure this idiot can actually pull something like this off?”  
“It is shocking-” Ezra began.  
“Try ridiculous. The guy ain’t known for his brains.”  
“Maybe that was all a ruse. People can fake stupidity.”  
“More like an arrogant prick who depended on his friends to back him up. The guy hasn’t got a spine.” huffed Buck.  
“JD found a possible connection between him and a relative Travis arrested. The kid was living with him at the time and has no other known relative. Travis brought him in for his skills with computers.” Ezra continued.  
“Why didn’t Travis say anything?” growled Buck.  
“Probably because when the kid got to 4C, he stopped working with computers and entered other classes. As we already know, he was in the class with you and Chris. This was probably to keep up the persona of a brute.”  
“Is there any evidence that he’s been in contact with his relative?” asked Chris.  
Ezra handed him another piece of paper, “He had tried to delete the messages but I was able to recover them. It took a while. Again this guy is pretty good.”  
On the piece of paper there were messages received and sent by the kid with dates going back months.  
“How does a person in prison receive messages?”  
“Well, prisoners can only receive letters and packages that go through security. The kid used a white ink trick on the letter he sent. Sending a normal letter, but when wet, it reveals the hidden message.” JD explained.  
“I was able to find all the classes this guy has been taking since entering into 4C. He was in various science classes when he first arrived. Nathan was able to identify what he used to pull this off.” Ezra said as he ran his fingers through his hair. His stuck up in different directions when he stopped.  
Chris studied the prisoner’s information, it still looked like he was in prison. He looked at the name of the prison and he flinched.  
It was the same prison that his father had been held in. He tossed the papers onto the table and sat back.  
“So we know who the leak is and a little bit of why he’s doing this.” he sighed.  
“That’s not the only information.” JD said in a low voice as he handed Chris another paper. It was an article. “Apparently the other arresting officers have been either killed or put into a severe coma. The guy in the coma has been 24 hour security so we can only hope that whoever is doing this can’t get to him.”  
“So it isn’t actually this guy who’s seeking retribution?” Chris asked, pointing to the prisoner’s face.  
“It could be that he’s behind it all. Shame we can’t get close enough to ask.”  
Chris didn’t think it was a shame. He didn’t want any of his friends getting close to the man.  
“I think it’s a good thing that we left.” Josiah smiled.  
“Was the food that bad to you?” grinned Ezra.  
“No, I was thinking about that if we stayed and had decided to solve this case, we would have been found out by him. The kid’s a genius and probably would’ve had no problem putting it all on us. This way he doesn’t suspect us. Probably thinks we don’t care what happens anymore.”  
Nathan and Buck nodded.  
“The girls weren’t that hot anyway.” Buck muttered.  
“I’m assuming that’s because none of them fell for your charms. One in particular.” Chris smiled.  
“That ship has sailed a long time ago.” Buck waved.  
Chris looked around the room and frowned.  
“Did Vin go to sleep already?”  
“Vin’s been gone a long time ago.” Ezra said dismissively.  
“He said he was going to be staying here with you!” Chris growled.  
Ezra flinched, “He told me that you were sending him somewhere.”  
“Hell.” Chris groaned, rubbing a hand over his face.  
“I’m sure he’ll stay out of trouble.” Buck reassured.  
“We should all head to bed.” Josiah yawned.  
The others agreed and began to pack up their things.  
Chris sat at the dining table to wait up for Vin. Ezra joined him.  
“You aren’t going to sleep?” Chris asked with a raised eyebrow.  
“Eventually. I found this on the floor.”  
Ezra pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and placed it in front of Chris.  
“Standish, you’re a great liar, but I also know you picked my pockets.”  
Ezra had the decency to apologize.  
“What’s the number for?”  
“My father gave it to me.”  
“Judging by the condition this thing has been in, I’m guessing you don’t want to talk to him still.”  
“What’s it matter to you anyway?”  
Ezra shrugged.  
Chris sighed and stuffed the slip of paper into his pocket. He looked at Ezra who was now pulling out his deck of cards.  
Chris had noticed the slow changes the younger boy was exhibiting. He wasn’t as formal with him which was a relief. He didn’t dress to the nines which he characterized with the Standish look.  
“What happened to the fancy clothes?”  
Ezra looked up from his game and gave a little chuckle, “Seems you have also noticed that my appearance have been sorely lacking. I had all the intentions today to wear my ‘fancy clothes’ but you didn’t give me much time to do that. Besides, none of you wear ‘fancy clothes’ and you all seem perfectly fine.”  
Chris watched Ezra finger the tip of the card he was holding.  
“Why do I get the impression that you’re a great chameleon?”  
“How do you figure?”  
“You try to blend into your surroundings. It almost seems like you like being in the background. Every time when we walk together, I notice you’re exactly behind me. You’re always the one who sits back on surveillance instead of joining. You’re like a more than capable player who enjoys being on the bench supporting there. Do you think your clothes bring to much attention to yourself?”  
Ezra looked at Chris then his cards.  
“I see where you get that impression, but that’s not the reason I’m not wearing my clothes. I do enjoy safety from a distance instead of being a part of the thick of missions. I guess I’ve never challenged myself to try anything else.”  
Chris nodded.  
“At Thanksgiving at dinner,” Ezra continued, his hands folded, “I noticed that all of you were wearing old and torn clothes while I was in a suit. I’m not sure why it affected me, but I can’t bring myself to wear my clothes, at least not the full thing. I’ll still pretend that…that all is fine.” Ezra shook his head, “I’ve been wearing suits for as long as I could remember. My mother always told me that keeping up appearances were everything. I did it because I wanted to make her happy. I convinced myself that wearing nice clothes made me happy too, but I honestly could care less. You guys don’t care what you wear and you’re happy. I figured that if I didn’t care then I could be a bit happier too.”  
“What you wear isn’t important, that’s true, but that’s not what decides if you’re happy or not.”  
Ezra sighed, “Figures. Happiness still evades me.”  
“Does it really?”  
The younger boy shrugged.  
“Well if it makes you feel better, we all like having you here. It wouldn’t be the same without you or your fancy clothes and five dollar words.”  
“Really?”  
Chris nodded.  
Ezra tried to keep his smile hidden but it didn’t work and he gave a little laugh, “I never felt wanted before.”  
Chris felt a pang of sadness for one of his own.  
“Well, I hope you’ll continue to wear your wonderful clothes.”  
Ezra grinned, “Hope we settle this mission soon so you all can start wearing your uniforms. That’s the best I’ve seen you all dress!”  
Chris threw a playful jab which was dodged. The front door opened and the boys looked up. Chris at first thought it was Mrs. Wilmington returning home, but a small figure entered and Chris stood up. It was Vin  
“I’ve bad news.” Vin said as he tried to catch his breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Can I say that I enjoyed writing this chapter. I just felt smart while writing the scenes where they were researching information. In real life I have no clue how to do this and I can’t write a research essay to save my life. I think watching shows on TV helped   
> Hope you enjoy this chapter as I much as I have in writing it. Stay tuned for Vin’s bad news. Love your reviews.


	4. Chapter 4

Chris crossed the room and grabbed Vin by the front of his shirt.  
“Where the hell have you been?” he hissed.  
Vin rolled his shoulders back, “I went to 4C.”  
“I told you not to!”  
“It’s done already so there’s nothing you can do about it.”  
Chris growled.  
“Did anyone see you?”  
Vin shook his head, “I chose if I want to be seen or not. I can be invisible easily enough and breaking inside was like licking butter off a knife.”  
Chris pulled the younger boy into a hug before smacking him upside the head.  
“Don’t do that again.”  
“No promises.” Vin muttered as he rubbed his head.  
They joined Ezra at the table and sat down.  
“So what have you discovered?” asked Chris.  
“Whatever you were working on to find the person who is coming after Travis, I found out by sneaking into Bryce’s office. He received an email about two hours ago that a fugitive broke out of prison and so far the police aren’t able to locate him. They suspect him to try to get in contact with whoever he is working with. The cops are keeping all of the 4C teams on lockdown to make sure they can find out who the leak is. Bryce has been sent to find out where we disappeared to. He’s looking now. I got a name of the prisoner. His name is Stewart James. We can use it to see who the leak might be and possible find any of his old hideouts.”  
“Ezra and JD found out that it was James and the leak was Lucas from team 6.”  
Vin sighed and nodded.  
“But you did provide us with some news about James.” said Ezra. “This means we have to move everything up. We don’t have much time before James may strike. Josiah needs to get Travis and his family out of that safe house.”  
“Why” frowned Vin.  
“Nathan was able to find out the location of the safe house when he went into the police station. If we can find it so easily then James and his men can too.”  
Vin nodded.  
“Shall we wake the others then?” asked Ezra.  
“Yeah, we don’t have any time to waste.”  
The two set off to wake everyone while Chris raked his hair, trying to think of a plan. Just then his phone vibrated and he pulled it out of his pocket. The number from the burner phone he gave Travis appeared across the screen.  
“Hey Travis, look we found out who the guy is who is coming after you and Vin found out that he just broke out of prison earlier today.”  
Chris paused to let Travis respond but the other end was quiet. It sent chills up his spine.  
“Travis?”  
“I’m sorry,” came a stranger’s voice, “the old man can’t get to the phone right now. Unlucky really, it seems that I’ll have to clean up another mess.”  
Chris pushed the end call button and threw the burner phone in frustration.  
The others who were now all awake, watched him as he paced the dining room.  
“They got to him.” he said simply.  
“Is he dead?” asked JD, his eyes were wide in fear.  
“I don’t know but regardless we’re going to push on. If he’s still holding him then we can save. If not will put him back in prison or a pine box.”  
“Always the dramatic.” Buck chuckled, “I should keep you from those crime movies.”  
“What’s the plan Chris?” asked Nathan.  
“Ezra and JD should start looking for places James may go to hide. Buck, I know I’m going to regret this but I need you to ask Mary and the girls to keep an eye on Lucas. Make sure they know to not approach him. We aren’t sure what he’s fully capable of.”  
The three set off to do their task.  
“Chris, if it’s any good, I looked at the profile they did on James. The man used to be a cop before he went rogue and started dealing drugs. It took the police years before they knew he was the leader of this huge organization. They sold drugs and weapons. James sold government secrets to high bidders and made millions before he was caught in his condo with the information of all the active agents in the FBI. He was sent to prison for life with no probation. The psychologist said he was a psychopath; intelligent, rational, calm, insincere, does stuff without remorse, unemotional, indifferent to trust and kindness, antisocial. He’s been married four times, all ending in divorce.”  
“So what do you get from this?”  
“I think that he isn’t doing this out of revenge, but feels the need to show others that he still is in control. For now I don’t think he’ll do anything. He wants a witness like he did with the others. They were attacked in public places.”  
“Should we look for public places then?”  
“For now no, I don’t think he’ll do anything right now. I’d give it till the morning.”  
“But the others were just killed or hit, none of them were kidnapped beforehand.”  
“This is him playing a game. He’s toying with the police and Travis. He’ll get bored though and kill him.”  
Chris nodded, “Okay. I’m going to go make a call.”  
He went into Buck’s room which was in the back and pulled out his own phone. Digging in his pocket he retrieved the slip of crumbled up paper. Chris stared at it for a minute before taking a deep breath and punch the numbers in and push call. He held his breath as the phone rang.  
The other side picked up and he felt the blood boil in his veins.  
“I was wondering when I’d hear from you.” came his father’s voice.  
“You need to understand that I wouldn’t be calling you unless I really needed something.” Chris growled.  
“So you need something then? What?”  
“Did you know a man named Stewart James while you were in prison?”  
“No,” Chris was ready to hang up, “but I knew of him. I heard he broke out of prison.”  
“How?” Chris could hold in his astonishment.  
“The word in the criminal world moves remarkably fast. I have a mutual acquaintance with James.”  
“Does your acquaintance know where James might be hiding?”  
There was a long pause, “And what if he does? Why are you looking for him?”  
“He has the director of 4C and is going to kill him.”  
“So.” said his father callously.  
“So I’m going to stop him.”  
“Take my advice and stay out of it. When Travis is gone then you’ll have no reason to stay in that organization. Do you know it’s like a juvenile correctional center? Why else are there so many kids who are messed up like you because of people like me?”  
Chris clenched his teeth and balled his fist.  
“I want the name of your acquaintance.”  
“How about I bring him to you?”  
“I don’t want to see you.”  
“Well if you want him then I think you know what you’ll have to do.”  
“Where?”  
“I’ll text you the address.”  
“Fine, but it needs to be within the hour. I’m on a time table.”   
He hung up before receiving any reply and fell on Buck’s bed, letting out his breath.  
His eyes were heavy and his body was still sore from earlier that evening. He wanted nothing more than to go to sleep but he pushed himself off the bed and head to the bathroom. He ran water over his face and dried it before heading to the front room to talk to Ezra and JD to see what they found.

 

Ezra rubbed his eyes roughly, trying to keep himself from falling asleep. He had been looking for over an hour and he was growing tired. It grew hard to focus and several times he almost dropped his computer which was sitting on his lap.  
“Maybe we should take a break.” JD said with a yawn.  
Ezra shook his head while he stretched, “Unfortunately we don’t have the luxury of sleeping seeing how we’re on time schedule.”  
“Well I’m going to go to the bathroom.”  
JD rocked himself out of his seat and ambled to down the hall.  
Nathan and Josiah had went out to investigate the ‘safe house’ while Buck talked to Mary on the phone to see what she found out.  
Vin had disappeared again and Chris was sitting down with his phone in his hand. He seemed like he was expecting a call.  
“Looking at it won’t make it ring.” Ezra drawled as he yawned and sat the computer in JD’s vacated spot.  
Chris looked over his shoulder before returning his attention on his phone.  
“I know, but I’m expecting a message any minute now.”  
“The minutes seem longer if you do that.”  
A few minutes passed and the phone came to life and Chris opened the text message. After reading it, Chris got up and grabbed his leather jacket and scarf.  
“News?” Ezra asked with a raised brow.  
“Hopefully. I’ll be back later. Make sure to check every possible hole this guy might be hiding. If you can’t find anything after a bit longer, see what Lucas is up to in all of this. He probably will try to leave sooner or later.” The older boy said as he put on his things to leave.  
Ezra gave a little salute and Chris closed the door behind him. His face was hit by a gust of wind and he wrapped the scarf tighter. Digging his hands into his pockets, he started off to the meeting place.  
The restaurant that he was supposed to meet them at was empty this time of day except for a few patrons. Chris spotted his father standing next to another man who glared at him as he approached. Straightening himself to his full height, Chris stood in front of them.  
“Thanks for coming.” he said in a way of a greeting.  
“When your father said that this was important, I was expecting someone… well someone a bit more grown up.” said the stranger.  
“I don’t know what the old man told you, but I hear that you are an acquaintance of Stuart James.”  
“’Why don’t we sit down and order some food?” The older Larabee suggested as he gestured to a booth.  
“I don’t have the time to sit. As I said on the phone, time is of the essence. This may have been your plan in luring me here, but-”  
“If you want information, you will do as your father says.”  
Chris glared at both men and chose a round table to sit at instead of a booth.  
The two men took their seats and a waitress approached them to place their orders.  
After she left to get their drinks did Chris finally try again.  
“Do you know where James can be hiding? He has someone I know and that person could die sometime within the next 48 hours.”  
“And what is it I get in return?”  
“My gratitude.” Chris said tight lipped.  
“This person you’re looking for. He is important yes?  
“Yes.”  
“Maybe this important friend of yours can pay me then.”  
“I could ask.” Chris lied. As soon as he rescued Travis, he was going to find a way for getting this man locked up for withholding information.  
“That’s good, because I wouldn’t want to have to threaten you if you go back on your word.”  
“Understood.” Chris said through gritted teeth as he glared at the man.  
The two had a staring contest until the waitress came back with their drinks.  
Chris had to sit through breakfast before he was given the information he needed.  
Once he was outside and on the way back to Buck’s house did he finally pull out his phone and called Ezra. After the third ring the other end picked up.  
*This is Standish.*  
“Hey, so I got a location for James, are you ready to write it down?”  
Chris heard a bit of rustling from the other end of the line.   
*Shoot.*  
“It’s 409W Gumshire Ave.”  
*Got it, are you on your way back?*  
“Yeah I’ll be there in ten minutes.” Chris said as he was about to hang up his phone.  
A van pulled up next to him and stopped abruptly and the side door flung open.  
Chris was thrown off guard and got pulled into the vehicle. He tried to resist but it was too late and the doors were closed again. The van pulled away and all that was left of where Chris was kidnapped was his abandoned phone.  
*Chris? Chris! What’s going on? Are you okay?*

Chris had a dirty sack pulled off from over his head he looked around the dark and dingy room. The people who had kidnapped him had tied him up and now he was pinned to a pipe that was leaking something on his shoulder. He just prayed it wasn’t anything harmful.  
The place looked pretty much abandoned and was filled with random junk that most of his view of the rest of the room.  
A man walked around him till he was standing over Chris. He looked pretty impressed with having kidnapped him. Chris snorted.  
“Congratulations, you’ve joined the ranks of so many and kidnapped a kid. I’m sorry I didn’t bring your award with me. Do you take I.O.U.’s?”  
“Very funny, Chris. That is your name right?” came a new voice.  
A man walked into Chris’s sight and gave a tired smile. “I heard about you. That you’re the great leader of Team 7 at 4C.”  
“Well I don’t like to brag.” Chris deadpanned, “That makes you Stewart James then I suppose.”  
James rose his hands and gestured to himself, giving one nod to Chris before putting his hands in his pockets.  
“I wasn’t too worried about getting caught because the police are complete idiots.” Chris gave a shrug in agreement. “However, when Lucas told me about you and your little band, well let’s just say, you put a wrinkle in my clothes.”  
“I never really like that kid. When I found out he was a double agent, it made me want to beat him up more.” Chris said with a smile.  
James didn’t smile however, his gaze was cold and his eyes were calculating, as if he was trying to figure out what he was going to do with Chris.  
“How about I take you and Travis out for a little swim?”  
Chris frowned but remained calm, “Well if you can’t see, I’m getting a nice shower right now so I’ll pass.”  
“Oh but I insist.”  
The man that had took the sack off of Chris’s head stuck a needle in his neck and injected him.  
“What the hell! What did you do to me?” he growled.  
He turned his head to James, but head kept going and fell to his chest.  
“Don’t worry, this will help you relax before you go in.”

 

Ezra chewed on his fingernails as he watched his phone, willing it to ring.   
The front door flung open and he looked up, hoping it was Chris, but it was Nathan and Josiah.  
“Did you find him? Did he call?” asked Nathan before he was fully in the house.  
“No.” Ezra said shakily and ran his hand through his hair. “Buck went out to look with Vin. They’re looking in the neighborhoods that are ten minutes from here. I’m waiting to hear from them, or to hear from Chris.”  
Josiah and Nathan sat down, the older boy put a comforting arm around Standish’s shoulder.  
“Don’t worry, we’ll find him.”  
“Why is it that when it comes to situations where I need to act I freeze. I just sit here and be useless!”  
“You aren’t useless.” Frowned Nathan, “I heard numerous accounts from Vin and JD of when you helped with being the eyes for the team when they rescued me. You did the same for Josiah as well.”  
“But I didn’t put myself out there. I just sit here where it’s safe. Hell JD is braver than me and he’s a kid.”  
“JD’s brave to the point where he’s oblivious of danger.” Josiah said with a grin.  
Nathan had to keep himself from laughing.  
“I could use some of that right about now.” Ezra muttered.  
The door opened again and Buck and Vin entered.  
“Anything?” asked Josiah.  
Buck dug into his pocket and retrieved a phone.  
“This is all we could find. It doesn’t have anything but a couple calls made out. One’s from Ezra and the other one I’m not sure of.”  
Buck handed the phone to Ezra.  
Ezra checked the number and his hand slumped with the phone, almost dropping it on the floor.  
“He called his father.”  
“What, why?” frowned Buck.  
“How do you know?” asked Josiah.  
“I recognize the number when I found it in Larabee’s jacket.”  
“So you think his father took him?”  
“No, he was calling me after probably meeting him. He left right around the time this call was made. He called me on his way back. He gave me an address where James is hiding.”  
“Then let’s use it, find this son of a bitch and end him.” Buck growled.  
Ezra turned to his computer, “The address Larabee gave me is for a building on the outskirts of town. It’ll take thirty minutes to get there by bikes. Since they probably were the ones who took the boss then they’ll probably be a little eager to dispose of them.”  
Everyone looked at Ezra and cocked their heads to the side. “Sorry, bad word choice.”  
“But the truth nonetheless.” Nathan sighed.  
“I spoke to Mary, apparently Lucas has went into hiding. The organization can’t seem to find him. The others in his team aren’t saying anything and have to stay in their rooms under surveillance. He must have slipped out when the security was changing.” said Buck.  
“What’s happening?” yawned JD as he stepped into the room. “Did we find out where the bad guys are keeping the director?”  
“Yeah but we lost Chris.” Buck muttered.  
“What?”  
“We suspect that James took him.” Josiah added.  
“This is what happens when I take a nap. Sleep for an hour and people get kidnapped.” JD grumbled.  
“Not to step on anyone’s toes or anything, but shouldn’t we, I don’t know, get moving in trying to save Chris and the director?” asked Vin.  
“Chris is usually the man with the plan.” Nathan sighed.  
“Buck!” JD pointed at the other boy who flinched, “You’ve been rolling with Chris for years. Can’t you come up with a plan?”  
“I wasn’t the devious calculating one of the duo.”  
“Then what exactly did you do?” asked Ezra with a raised eyebrow.  
Buck puffed up his chest and stood straighter, “I found hits for us. I found the marks and analyzed a bit of their weaknesses. I was the Ezra before you came along.”  
“I’m sure you can come up with something after stealing for years.”  
Buck thought for a few minutes, which consisted of scratching his head and pacing the floor. After a while he grabbed a drink from the fridge and returned to the little front room.  
“Well?” asked Vin, a little exasperated.  
“I got nothing.”  
“Stop wasting our time! You should’ve said that in the first place.”  
“What would Chris do in this situation?” asked Josiah.  
“Keep a cool head and prepare for this like any search and rescue. Probably have the dart guns loaded and a few smoke grenades I got from one of the John’s that sees my mom and gives me gifts.”  
“Dude, what type of people does your mom deal with?” frowned Nathan.  
“People who know not to mess with me and also like me enough to give me cool stuff like smoke grenades.”  
“Dude, that’s awesome.” grinned Vin.  
“Okay, we’ll probably need the cameras to stay in contact.” Ezra suggested.  
“Sounds good to me.” Josiah nodded.  
The others agreed and began running around to get ready to leave.  
“We leave in ten!” called Vin.  
As the others packed their equipment, Ezra stuffed his computer and individual cam recorders in his bag. He looked over to where his duffle bag had his red suit jacket resting on top. In a quick decision he picked it up and put it on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: What does James have plan in store for Travis and Chris? Where the heck did Lucas go? How did they know where Chris was? What do the other boys have planned to rescue their friends? All of this hopefully will be answered in the next chapter! Thanks for reading. Love hearing from you as always. Bye!!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry for leaving you all hanging. I hit a horrible writer’s block and hadn’t been writing for a while. Well at least any fanfiction. I went back to my own stories for a while and suffering from being a college student. But you guys probably don’t care. Anyway, I had decided to come back to the story when I got on summer break, however when I was in class (I may have not been paying attention) I saw a review from, Sivan325, who wanted me to continue writing. Now I had no idea what I was going to be writing about, but I just sat down and went for it. Here you go. I promise to keep on writing.

Chris was dragged across the damp floor and dumped near the edge of an indoor pool.  
He could smell the chlorine and feel the warmth of the water that ran over the edge and lap at his paralyzed limbs. Despite all of this however, he felt cold. Chris wasn’t one for swimming. Buck had taught him last summer, but he only knew how to tread water. The exercise was to help him get over his fear of drowning.  
Now he felt it returning. There was no control over his fate right now. His breathing hitched when he heard someone talking behind him. He couldn’t turn to see who it was, but he recognized the voice.  
“Is your team coming for us?” asked Travis.  
“I have no doubt that they will.”  
“You don’t know for sure?”  
Chris heard confusion in the other man’s voice.  
“I gave Ezra the address to where we’re being held. I’m sure they’re on their way here now.” Chris huffed as he strained to get some feeling in his limbs.  
“Ezra?!” asked Travis incredulously, “You do know that Ezra’s performance rate is extremely low. When placed in a tough situation he tends to freeze up.”  
“I’m aware of that, but I also know him. He can do this. He knows what’s at stake.”

The sound of a creaking door was heard and the clomping sound of heavy foot falls.  
“Well I think everyone is now present for the party. Shall we get started?” asked Stuart.

 

Buck and the others hid behind an abandoned car parked across the street of the building they were scouting out.  
“So, how do we know they’re inside?” asked JD.  
“We don’t have the cameras and the cover of night for this mission. No layout of the building. We are literally going in blind.” Ezra muttered.  
“Ye of little faith, brother.” smiled Josiah.  
“I’m just saying-”  
“Ezra, we do this or Chris and Travis can end up dead!” Vin interrupted.  
The boys looked at each other and down at themselves. They were fitted in black with the exception of Ezra wearing his red jacket over his. Buck, Vin and Josiah carried their dart guns while JD handled the smoke grenades.  
“I’m just saying we just need to approach this wisely.”  
“Ez, we’ve done this before. We know what we’re up against, and just like we were taught in 4C, we are ready to sacrifice ourselves to help others.” Buck smiled.  
Ezra wanted to point out that he had never done anything like this before. That he had failed the classes where he had to make quick decisions and take action. Instead he gripped the end of his red jacket using it to calm his nerves.  
“We’re going in.” announced Buck.  
Everyone nodded and they crept across the street and crawled through the hole in the fence. Buck, JD and Nathan went around the back while Josiah, Vin and Ezra went in the front.  
The boys crept through the building, keeping to the shadows while they scanned for Stuart and their friends. There were a few men who were carrying guns, walking around the rooms.  
The guns were heavy duty compared to the ones that the boys were used to.  
“I wish I had my real gun.” whispered Vin.  
“Would it make much of a difference?” asked Josiah.  
“It’d make me feel better.” muttered Ezra.  
“Those guns can tear us apart easily. Stealth is better in this case.”  
Vin nodded and crawled across the ground and hid behind a bunch of boxes.  
Josiah and Ezra waited and watched as Vin climbed up the boxes. The boy was able to reach the low I beams that supported the roof and climb onto them.  
It was like watching a black cat make its way across a fence.  
Vin reached the spot where two men had stopped to talk were underneath him. Pulling his dart gun from around his back and aimed it carefully at the first man.  
Ezra and Josiah watched as the first man dropped the ground before the second one was shot and followed his companion.  
Before darting out to retrieve the guns that were now abandoned, Josiah checked to see that the coast was clear.  
Nodding, he and Ezra went out and tied the unconscious men’s hands together with zip ties and took their guns with them.  
The weapon felt really heavy in Ezra’s hands and the cold metal seeped into his hot sweaty palms.  
“Let’s go.” said Josiah, dragging Ezra out of his trance.  
The two continued their way through the building while Vin stuck to the rafters above.

 

Buck was filled with nervous excitement. It was like the Call of Duty games he had played with Chris and Vin. This time however, if he was shot, he would bleed, possibly die.  
He used his agitation to heighten his senses. Every sound that was made echoed through his ears and he would stop and duck behind crates with the others. The thugs with their guns would pass close by to their hiding places, making his heart beat harder against his ribcage.  
A door was at the other end of the room. It was slightly ajar from the last person who had walked out of it. They needed to get to that door.  
Buck licked his lips and signaled to Nathan and JD to go left while he went right.  
The other boys nodded and Buck stepped right in front of two the men who were making rounds.  
The men frowned in confusion, not sure what to do in this situation.  
One of them finally walked forward stretching out his hand to grab Buck. The boy however swatted the man’s hand out of the way and grabbed him by the arm.  
Ducking under the man and twisting his arm around his back, Buck slammed his foot on the backside of the man’s knee. The man fell down and his partner held up his gun, trying to get a shot off.  
Just as he was about to shoot, a prick hit the back of his neck and he dropped to the ground.  
Buck looked over his shoulder and grinned. Nathan and JD stood over the other man, Nathan still holding his dart gun up.  
Turning back to his man, Buck felt the man start to get up. Slamming his fist against the area behind the back of the ear, Buck knocked the man unconscious.  
Standing up, Buck climbed off of his man and nodded to the others.  
“Well come on, it’s not over yet.” he said.  
They all ran to the other end of the room where the door was. Buck checked to see if the coast was clear and then slipped inside. The others followed.

The new room was lined with pipes. They could hear the dripping noise of a loose nuzzle and the stench of something they couldn’t place.  
As far as they could tell there wasn’t anyone else in the room. They lowered their guard a little but they kept their ears open for any sudden change.  
JD and Nathan walked around, trying to look for any clues.  
JD switched on his flashlight and slowly ran it across the floor.  
“Wait go back.” said Nathan.  
JD ran the light back to an I beam.  
Nathan stepped forward and knelt on the wet ground.  
“What is it? What did you find?” asked Buck.  
Nathan indicated to a spot on the beam, “Blood.”  
“Are you sure?”  
Buck and JD stepped closer to get a better look.  
“Yeah, it doesn’t look that old either.”  
“So one of them is bleeding or dead.” sighed Buck.  
“We should probably keep moving.” Nathan said as he stood back up.  
“I can’t find any other doors than the one we came through.” said JD.  
“So they were held and possibly tortured in here.” Buck guessed, “They’re probably going to dump the bodies somewhere else.”  
Nathan frowned and walked over to a side of the room. He bent down and picked up a piece of broken glass.  
“It looks like a glass shard from a needle.”  
“Does it say what kind of drug it had in there?”  
Nathan shook his head.  
“Damn.” muttered Buck, “Okay, let’s go and see if we can find the others. They must’ve left already.”

 

Chris gasped for air as he was lifted out of the water for the fifth time. He began coughing up water as he sputtered to regulate his breathing.  
The man that was holding him readjusted his grip on Chris’ shirt and prepared to dunk him again.  
“I must say, Chris, I’m really disappointed. I was expecting a little more from you and your team. Maybe you’re just not as good as you think you are.”  
Chris glared up at Stuart who looked down at him, unimpressed.  
“Dunk him again, longer this time.”  
“No, no!” pleaded Chris as he was pushed under the surface of the water.  
He struggled to hold his breath as he wanted to scream. His limbs still wouldn’t move and his lungs began to burn.  
Please, he thought, save me! Somebody! Anybody!


	6. Chapter 6

After being sure they had searched the entire building, the boys all met outside.  
“We couldn’t find them.” huffed Vin, irritated at failing their friends.  
“They aren’t dead already are they?” asked JD.  
“Nathan was able to find a broken needle. It looks as if they were injected with something.” said Buck.  
“I’m going to go to the hospital and see what was in this. It could help Chris and Travis out to know what they were injected with.” said Nathan as he grabbed his bike. They watched Nathan ride down the street for a minute before going back to talking.  
“I called the police. They should be here in a couple minutes to pick up those men.” informed Josiah.  
“Were you able to find anything to tell you where they were possibly taken?” asked Ezra.  
“There wasn’t much to go on. There was blood and signs of them being tied up. There was were signs of someone being dragged but they ended abruptly.” said JD.  
“What did you guys find?” asked Buck.  
“Nothing much. Water was everywhere on the floor. We tried to see if we could catch any water prints of someone leaving the building, but those thugs destroyed any possible leads with that.” Ezra muttered and ran his hand through his hair.   
A hose from a house they were standing in front of was leaking and he watched it for a while. He frowned as he followed the water down the sidewalk and into the gutter. Thinking about the setup in the warehouse again, he thought about everything he saw, touched, heard and smelled.  
“That’s it!” he shouted.  
The others all turned to look at him. They were all confused.  
“Mind sharing with the rest of us.” asked Vin.  
“When you were inside the warehouse, did you smell anything that was out of place?”  
Most of the boys shrugged.  
“It kind of smelled like a pool.” said JD after a while.  
“A pool?” frowned Buck.  
“That’s it don’t you see?” grinned Ezra.  
“No, no I don’t. Why don’t you just tell us instead of creating the suspense?”  
“When I was inside, I found no evidence of anything with chlorine. The water must’ve been tracked in from the other location.”  
“So you think they’re at a pool somewhere?” asked Josiah.  
“It’s worth checking out.” said Buck, “How many pools are nearby?”  
Ezra pulled out his phone and typed in the information in quickly. “Just the one, about a block over.  
“Lead the way then.”  
The boys all grabbed their bikes and then rode down the street to the indoor public pool that was closed for reconstruction.

 

Travis watched as they pulled Chris’ half drowned body out of the water again and drop it on the tile floor. The body landed with a sickening thud and Chris’ head rolled back to reveal blood. The body was still. There wasn’t any sign of him breathing.   
A foot kicked Chris in the stomach and Chris coughed violently.  
“Thanks for joining us again.” muttered Stewart as he stepped over Chris’ body and walked over to Travis. “I really must thank you for bringing my nephew into your little establishment. It would’ve made more tedious to pull off. And it’s not as if you didn’t benefit from it too. Lucas was probably one of your top students. You know he’s a genius right. Can master anything he puts his mind to.”  
“Could’ve fooled me. Always seemed like a hothead that always got beat.” growled Travis.  
“He took acting classes for five years. I have no doubt that his hatred for Chris and his friends had anything to do with his performance for them. He wanted them to think they were stronger so that they’d be the likely suspects. It’s all how you play it in the long run.”  
The man signaled to his men who stepped forward with a tank. Travis could see something swimming in it but he couldn’t tell what.  
“Let’s play a game now.” suggested Stewart, “After all it would be a shame to kill you two off too fast and not give Chris’ friends a chance to see you both while you die.”  
The tank was emptied into the pool and six stingrays fell in.  
“You like? I had to borrow these from a friend who uses them on any of the traitors in his group. He’d like to hold their heads under water while they got stung. There was this one time a man lasted for three minutes under the water and got stung twelve times. He died before he reached the hospital but then again, that was the point. I’m just amazed at what the human body can be capable of surviving. Shall we test to see how far you two can make it?”

 

Buck jumped off of his bike before it reached a complete stop and ran to the door of the public pool. The others soon followed after.  
“Any plans on how we’re going to do this?” asked Ezra.  
“I figured we could just wing it.” said Buck as he pushed the doors open and went inside.  
“Lord.” muttered Ezra as he went in with the others.  
They all remained silent as they listened for any sounds that they might hear.  
They could hear voices bouncing off the wall, but couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from.  
“Should we split up?” asked Vin.  
“I prefer that we don’t said Ezra, “The building isn’t too big that it won’t take us long.”  
Just then they heard people screaming.  
It was Vin who took off first with the others running after them.  
As they turned the corner, they came across two men with guns.   
The men didn’t stop and waver like the others in the warehouse. Shots fired and the boys had to duck out of the way to prevent from getting shot. Ezra slammed himself against the safety of a wall with a grunt next to Vin.  
“Are you ok?” asked Vin who was preparing his dart gun.  
“Yeah.” groaned Ezra as he got his ready.   
He touched his left arm and removed his hand to see blood.  
Blinking several times, he prepared himself to go back out there.  
The men were still shooting at Buck and Josiah who were shooting back.

“They won’t go down.” muttered Buck.  
“Maybe this will help.” said JD as he pulled out the smoke grenade and pulled the pin. He threw it down the hall at the men and they could hear cursing.  
The boys began shooting again, not stopping until they heard both men go down.  
“I think they’re down.” said Josiah who went first.  
As the oldest boy was clearing the second body, the man shifted and aimed his gun at Josiah.  
“Look out!” shouted Vin.  
A shot rang out, but it didn’t hit the spot where the man had intended. His arm fell limp and he fell unconscious. Ezra still holding his dart gun at the man, half in shock at what he just did.  
“Josiah are you alright?” asked Buck.  
Josiah was limping now, blood dripping from his leg.  
“Yeah, could’ve been worse. We need to keep moving.”  
“We can’t make you walk on that leg. Nathan would kill us.” said JD.  
“JD, stay behind with Josiah and call 911.” said Buck, “Vin, Ezra and I will go on ahead.”  
JD nodded and began putting pressure on Josiah’s wound to stop the bleeding.  
The other three boys went on ahead.   
Ezra could feel the blood pumping harder with adrenaline. He felt he could actually do this.  
Vin stopped them at the slightly open door and peeked inside. He could see signs of Travis and Chris, but also Stewart. Turning to his friends he gestured with his hands what the plan was.  
“Take the left Ezra while I take the right. There are two guys with Stewart. Buck, go for Travis and Chris if you can. We’ll do our best to cover you.”  
The two boys nodded and they pulled the door open.

 

Chris thought he could hear gunfire, but he was too out if to actually tell if it was all just his imagination.  
He thought he saw Ezra and Vin shooting at the two men who were guarding Stewart. The men didn’t get much of a chance to fire back because they were too busy holding Chris and Travis, ready to dunk them back in the water. Buck ran to catch Travis before he fell into the pool again.  
Chris felt an arm wrap around his neck and his eyes widened. His arms flailed to pull the arm away but they felt heavy and they didn’t work right.  
“Drop your guns boy before I drop your friend into the pool. He’s feeling a little sluggish and it would be a shame if he wasn’t able to keep himself a float.” said Stewart.  
Vin and Buck both tried shooting their dart guns but they had ran out.  
It was just Ezra and Stewart with Chris slowly fading in his arms.  
Chris struggled to keep his eyes open. He could see fear in Ezra’s face. Coughing, Chris smiled, “It’s okay Ezra. I understand.”  
Ezra looked like he was about to let his gun go when Chris’ eyes finally closed.

 

“Pathetic.” laughed Stewart, “You boys are supposed to be the infamous Magnificent Seven? I’m am deeply disappointed.”  
Ezra let his gun fall and dug his hands into his pocket. He felt the familiar touch of his playing cards. Pulling out a card, he looked at it curiously.  
“Ez, what are you doing? Shoot the man!” yelled Buck.  
“Ez!” barked Vin.  
Ezra looked determinedly at Stewart and slipped the card into position. He flicked his wrist and the card flew through the air and hit the man in the eye.  
Stewart pushed Chris away and the body fell the ground. He held his face, cursing up a storm.  
Running, Ezra did a side kick and hit the man square in the stomach, kicking him so he fell into the pool.  
They heard screaming as the stingrays stung him ferociously until he stopped all together.  
Ezra was breathing hard as he slumped and fell to his knees because he felt like he couldn’t stand anymore.  
Vin checked Chris while Buck attended Travis.  
Ezra heard JD come in and say that the police and ambulance had arrived.  
Vin looked over at Ezra who was just staring at the body floating in the water.  
He pulled his friend away so he wouldn’t have to see it anymore.  
“You alright?”  
“I’m not entirely sure.” Ezra confessed.  
“You’re bleeding.” Vin frowned when he finally saw the blood on Ezra’s red jacket.  
“Only a graze I think.”  
“Let’s get out of here.”   
Ezra nodded and they followed the others out of the public pool.

 

“Mr Standish?”  
Ezra raised his head to see the psychiatrist sitting with his legs crossed in front of him.  
“Forgive me, my mind had wondered off for a minute. What did you say?”  
The man didn’t correct Ezra even though he had spaced out for five minutes and tears were falling from his eyes.  
“I asked if you think you’re going to be okay to continue in the program.”  
“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” frowned Ezra.  
“You just experienced something that can be very traumatic. People who go through this start thinking about questions like, ‘what if it was my friend instead?’ or ‘it was better that he died instead of my friends’.”  
“I’m sorry but you make it sound as if that’s a bad thing to think that.” smiled Ezra.  
“Well, it is the normal way people tend to coup, but a death is still a death. We need to watch everyone to make sure they don’t end up turning into psychopaths.”  
“I’m glad you put it so gently for me, doc.” huffed Ezra.  
“This is a serious matter, Standish.”  
Ezra looked at his watched, “I know.” He stood up and smiled, “My time is up. I’ll see you next week.”

Ezra walked down the hall slowly, his thoughts still going back to the pool. He barely heard Vin say his name when he entered the room.  
“Ez, Chris and Josiah are both back from the hospital.”  
Ezra went into the room where the older boys were laying down covered in blankets. They were both playing video games while JD dashed back in forth to fetch them things.  
“I can’t wait to see it when JD realizes that they’re just using him so they can continue being lazy.” laughed Buck as he joined them where they were standing.  
Nathan also came up, holding a book under his arm, “I was able to find out from the hospital that the drug they used on Travis and Chris was paralysis drug. It eventually left their system and shouldn’t cause any lasting effects.”  
“How’s your arm?” asked Buck, pointing to Ezra’s sling.  
“My body is well on its way to mending.”  
“Fine, just say that it’s fine.” muttered Buck before laughing and giving the boy a gentle shove, “I’m glad you have your stick back up your ass and going back to acting normal.”  
Ezra looked down at his clothes. He was still wearing his civilian clothes since the team didn’t have to go back to class for the next few weeks. Dressed to the nines again, Ezra did feel like he was more of himself again. This was who they recognized, not the messed up hair and wrinkled clothes person he was when they were trying to find Stewart.  
“Something wrong Ez?” asked Vin.  
“No, why?”  
“It’s just when I first stopped you, you had tears rolling down your cheeks.”  
Ezra self-consciously wiped his face, “I assure you that I’m quite well and that nothing it the matter with me.”  
“Hey Ezra, can I talk to you for a minute?”  
Ezra turned and saw Chris looking at him. Ezra nodded and followed their leader to Chris’ room.  
“Are you going to tell me I should quit because I’m pretty sure the psychiatrist is on his way to recommending my removal as we speak.”  
“I was just checking to see how you were.”  
Ezra smiled, “Peachy.”  
Chris sighed and nodded, “I know I can’t force you to talk to me or the psychiatrist. I just want you to find someone you can talk to that you trust. It’s better to talk about it trust me on this one.”  
Chris was turning to walk out of the room when he heard Ezra whisper, “I’m sorry.” Chris turned around and saw tears rolling down the other boy’s cheeks.  
“I’m so sorry. You were counting on us, on me and I nearly failed you.”  
“But you didn’t.”  
Ezra shook his head, “I’m not like any of you. I never put myself in a place where I had to choose another’s life. I always go into self-preservation. I could’ve had you killed.”  
“I told you it was fine. I when he placed you in that situation that you might freeze up, but I had every bit of faith in you.” Chris put his hand on Ezra’s shoulder and the younger boy looked up, “Because you’re one of us, I knew you wouldn’t let me down. I know you don’t like to show it but you care. You care a lot about us.”  
The tears began to flow even harder and Ezra hugged Chris. Chris smiled and hugged him back.  
“We’ll be waiting for you to join us when you’re ready.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: No shame, I simply love the moments with Ezra and Chris. I right these on purpose, creating my own feels. I think there shall be one more chappie and that will be the final curtain. Love you all. You guys are wonderful people.


	7. Chapter 7

There was a knock on Director Travis’ door and he called for them to enter. The boys all came in. Chris in lead with Buck and Vin flanking him. JD was behind Buck and Josiah and Nathan brought up the rear. Travis noticed that Ezra was missing, but decided not to mention it.  
“Again I would like to thank you boys for helping out in this investigation. Your work has been received by police officials and they are processing the information that you have found. Stuart is in serious condition. No one knows for certain if he will live. Lucas is in juvenile detention for aiding a criminal and all the men working with James have been sent to prison.”   
Travis sat back in his chair, to watch the expression of the boys. None of them seemed to care much about the James family. They all seemed to be focused on some inner struggle they were all going through.  
He sighed and looked at his desk where he had all their files laying in front of him.  
“I know you all probably have had your fill from what just happened, and I wouldn’t blame you if you all want to leave. I can have it so that you all won’t have to go into the system, those of you who have no legal guardian. We can set up a dorm for you all to stay in until you are all of age.” He watched them all to see how they took it.  
Most of the boys looked to Chris, waiting for him to decide for them. In the end, he would always make the decisions.  
Chris however stared at Travis with an unwavering dead expression.  
“A can will be waiting outside when you are ready to—”  
“I’m staying.” Chris interrupted Travis. “I won’t back down now just after doing one case. If you think we’re that weak if heart then you’re wrong.”  
Travis watched as the rest began to nod.  
“Do you all feel this way?” Travis asked Chris, speaking specifically about Ezra.  
“We do.” came voice from behind. It was Ezra, he had slipped in when no one was paying attention. He looked determined, trying to back up his words that he was ready to go back out again.  
Chris looked back at him and gave his half smile. Ezra gave his two finger salute back, his grin as always a megawatt.  
Chris turned back to Travis, “It seems that Team Seven won’t be leaving you just yet Travis.”  
“Well then. I think you boys are ready to move onto the big leagues. There will be more cases like James and most definitely worse.” Travis warned.  
“Then what are we waiting for?” asked JD with a grin, full of confidence.

 

Twenty minutes later the boys were walking out of building. They were wearing their casual clothes again, abandoning the program’s uniform.  
Chris strolled ahead, dressed from head to toe in black. Vin in his favorite hoodie at his side. Buck rather liked his uniform jacket so he kept it over his plain T-shirt and jeans. He said girls liked a guy in uniform. Josiah and Nathan went back to their flannels while JD wore an old one of Buck’s jackets and baseball caps. Ezra, he was once again in his suits. His red suit jacket back on.  
They were themselves again, and it felt great.  
“I still can’t believe we’re doing this.” JD grumbled.  
Chris up front was thinking the same thing, but was less vocal about it.  
“If you don’t like it then you can just stay.”  
Buck frowned at the speaker who flashed him a grin.  
Mary, Inez, Stephen and Casey walked alongside them as they made their way to the small bus they were taking.  
“Upset we’re apart of them team now?” asked Mary.  
“So long as you don’t get in our way.” Vin huffed, “And you ain’t apart of the team seven.”  
“They helped us in the last case.” Chris pointed out.  
“All except Stephen.” Buck muttered.  
Chris looked over his shoulder at the group following him.  
“It’s true that there will be some new people joining us, but I think we’ll work well together.” Chris climbed the first two steps on the bus then stopped and turned fully around. “And if no then we can kick them back down to the little leagues again.”  
The other boys smiled and followed Chris on the bus.  
“What do you mean ‘kick us back down’ you don’t have the power to do that.” Mary snapped.  
“Girl, I don’t think you fully understand.” Buck smirked, “He’s Chris freaking Larabee. There isn’t about anything he can’t do.”

 

A/N: Thank you all for reading this series. Once again I leave it open for people if they want to continue the boys on more cases. I really enjoyed writing this and couldn't imagine it going pass one let alone four. Love you all!!!

**Author's Note:**

> To be continued shortly...


End file.
